Annual Report 2007

Aiming for Intuitive Prosthetic Control A peripheral nerve interface being developed at Georgia Tech could lead to more intuitive control of prosthetic limbs. rosthetists can fashion artificial limbs that look remarkably like the real thing. Getting them to perform like the real thing is the goal of a National Science Foundation-funded project conducted by GTRI senior research scientist Dinal Andreasen along with professor Ravi Bellamkonda and graduate student Isaac Clements, both of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. The research team is working on a peripheral nerve interface to capture the nerve signals between the brain and a lost limb, according to Andreasen. Those signals could be used to operate a prosthesis. The device consists of a cap placed over the stump at the time of amputation. Inside the cap is a scaffold of parallel polymer nanofibers that acts as a kind of trellis. P “The idea is to encourage regeneration of the neurons into the scaffold, which also contains electrodes that the neurons grow over and come into contact with,” Andreasen said. Nerve signals intended for the lost limb are picked up by the electrodes and sent to the outside of the cap, where special receivers enable researchers to monitor signals transmitted from individual nerve fibers. The nerve impulses can be converted into multi-channel electrical signals, which would then be used to control a prosthetic device. Bellamkonda illustrates with the example of an artificial hand. “Right now you would control that artificial hand through certain muscle groups — by moving your shoulder, for example,” he says. “It is very crude and has nothing to do with thinking about using your hand. If I put this cap on the nerves that used to control your hand and use those signals, you will be able to operate that hand in a much more natural and intuitive way.” Since nerves carry both motor and sensory information, the technique could also lead to prosthetics that provide sensory input. “A major part of the research involves sending stimulation signals back into the peripheral nerve,” Andreasen noted. That would allow the user of a prosthetic hand, for instance, to also experience the sensation of the fingers moving through the air or grasping objects. “Working with information flowing both ways through the peripheral nerves is an interesting and challenging part of the project,” he added. 1 www.gtri.gatech.edu http://www.gtri.gatech.edu

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Annual Report 2007

Annual Report 2007 Contents From the Director Research at GTRI Defense and Security Health and Human Systems Energy and Environment Manufacturing Technologies Information and Communication Technologies GTRI Around the World Interdisciplinary Research Centers The Laboratories of GTRI Georgia Tech Ireland GTRI by the Numbers GTRI and Georgia Tech Supporting Breakthrough Research GTRI Professional Education The People of GTRI

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