New Technology: Double Amputee can now USE TWO mind-controlled Prosthetic Arms

A groundbreaking experiment has given a double amputee two new mind controlled prosthetic arms. 

 

Les Baugh, who lost both arms in an electrical accident 40 years ago, was able to operate the system by simply thinking about moving his limbs.

 

A Colorado man made history at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) this summer when Baugh became the first bilateral shoulder-level amputee to wear and simultaneously control two of the Laboratory's Modular Prosthetic Limbs. 

 

How it works

 

Before putting the limb system through the paces, Baugh had to undergo a surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital known as targeted muscle reinnervation.

 

'It's a relatively new surgical procedure that reassigns nerves that once controlled the arm and the hand,' explained Johns Hopkins Trauma Surgeon Albert Chi, M.D. 

'By reassigning existing nerves, we can make it possible for people who have had upper-arm amputations to control their prosthetic devices by merely thinking about the action they want to perform.'

 

After recovery, Baugh visited the Laboratory for training on the use of the MPLs. 

First, he worked with researchers on the pattern recognition system.

 

'We use pattern recognition algorithms to identify individual muscles that are contracting, how well they communicate with each other, and their amplitude and frequency,' Chi explained. 

 

'We take that information and translate that into actual movements within a prosthetic.'

 

Then Baugh was fitted for a custom socket for his torso and shoulders that supports the prosthetic limbs and also makes the neurological connections with the reinnervated nerves. 

 

While the socket got its finishing touches, the team had him work with the limb system through a Virtual Integration Environment (VIE), a virtual-reality version of the MPL.

 

The VIE is completely interchangeable with the prosthetic limbs and through APL's licensing process currently provides 19 groups in the research community with a low-cost means of testing brain–computer interfaces. 

It's being used to test novel neural interface methods and study phantom limb pain, and serves as a portable training system.

 

By the time he was fitted with the socket, Baugh said he was more than ready to get started, he was able to lift cups, and perform a range of motions with each arm, in a procedure experts say could change the way prosthetics are used.

 

'This task simulated activities that may commonly be faced in a day-to-day environment at home,' said APL's Courtney Moran, a prosthetics working with Baugh. 

 

'This was significant because this is not possible with currently available prostheses. He was able to do this with only 10 days of training, which demonstrates the intuitive nature of the control.'

 

Moran said the research team was floored by what Baugh was able to accomplish.

'We expected him to exceed performance compared to what he might achieve with conventional systems, but the speed with which he learned motions and the number of motions he was able to control in such a short period of time was far beyond expectation,' she said.