Lighthouse News Daily

Breaking Daily News

Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Log in
  • Headlines
  • Business
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • U.S.
  • World
  • Latest News
    • Inflatable Greenhouse Could Be A Food Source In The Outer Space
    • YouTube for Children Being Launched by Google
    • Some Animals Produce Natural Sunscreen to Protect Themselves from Radiation, New Study Shows
    • A New Genetic Map Tracks Down Dog Breeds And Their Evolution
    • Lack Of Sleep Causes Brain Cells To Slow Down
    • Meet Lyuba, the Best-Preserved Baby Mammoth in the World
    • Reports of Great White Shark Spottings Around Wells, Maine
    • Minecraft Adds Hour of Code Designer Tutorial
    • The de Broglie-Bohm Theory Is Back and It’s Surreal
    • Could High Carbon Dioxide Concentration Make Earth Greener?
You are here: Home / Health / DARPA Unveils Prosthetic Hand that Can Restore Sense of Touch

DARPA Unveils Prosthetic Hand that Can Restore Sense of Touch

September 15, 2015 By Grant Hamersma Leave a Comment

Email, RSS Follow

DARPA Unveils Prosthetic Hand that Can Restore Sense of Touch

In the past few years, researchers made huge breakthroughs into prosthetics research. Recently, the medical world was taken by storm when the mind-controlled prosthetic leg was unveiled. But who would have thought that the artificial limb that restores a near-natural sense of touch was just around the corner?

The U.S. Defense Department’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) revealed last week that it was able to design a robotic hand that can tap into brain signals to restore patients’ the lost sense of touch in the amputated limb.

DARPA researchers said that they have tested the prosthetic hand on a 28-year-old man who was able to “sense” physical sensations via his artificial limb. The research team explained that they attached the artificial limb to the patient’s neural network but declined to provide more details about the medical procedure.

DARPA reported that the man can now even sense which of the artificial fingers is pressed against a surface. A couple of years ago, a team of private academics developed a similar technology which granted patients with a primitive sense of touch and enough control over their robotic hands to twist the stems off cherries.

Although the government is secretive about the new technology, researchers explained that they had connected wires from the prosthetic limb to the patient’s sensory and motor areas of the brain. These areas allow a healthy person to move their limbs and get a sense of touch. The robotic hand was designed by Johns Hopkins University’s department of applied physics.

Johns Hopkins researchers noted that the mechanical limb’s torque sensors can “translate” the pressure a robotic finger applies on a surface into electrical signals that stimulate the brain’s sensory area.

But a group of neurosurgeons said a couple of years ago that such artificial limbs are impossible to produce because the brain and body has a mechanism of rejecting prosthetic limbs that interfere too much with their natural processes. The team argued that an artificial arm for instance needs electrical wires, semiconductors and other conductive materials to deliver signals to the brain, while the brain uses gentler, chemical signals to communicate with the limbs.

So, if DARPA’s invention is a real success remains to be seen, especially because the research unit declined to provide more details on how exactly it managed to pull off the feat. Neurosurgeons also explained that there are a series of challenges researchers need to respond to before they can design a practical prosthetic limb including a way to dodge the immune response to prevent the limb from being rejected.

Image Source: Flickr

Email, RSS Follow

Filed Under: Health

Pages

  • About/Contact
  • AccomplishNow Sandra Rechsteiner | A Journey to Self-Acceptance
  • Privacy Policy GDPR
  • Staff
  • Terms and Conditions

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 17 other subscribers

Conrad Hilton, Younger Brother of Paris Charged

February 4, 2015 By Barbara Mast Leave a Comment

Niagara Falls Freezes Over

February 18, 2015 By Renee Johnson Leave a Comment

Kate Brown to Become New Oregon Governor

February 14, 2015 By David Kellen Leave a Comment

Data for Retail Sales in U.S. Points to Slower Growth

February 12, 2015 By David Kellen Leave a Comment

United States and Cuba Clash at Start of Talks over Immigration

January 21, 2015 By David Kellen Leave a Comment

U.S. Veteran Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh Tried to Join ISIS

March 17, 2015 By David Kellen Leave a Comment

Dallas Mayor saves the life of a woman who almost choked on a piece of meat on Saturday afternoon.

Dallas Mayor Saves The Day

August 10, 2015 By Jeremy Kennedy Leave a Comment

Fans from all over the world are desperately trying to find out if the bastard of Winterfell is coming back next season.

The Bastard Of Winterfell Is Coming Back

October 4, 2015 By Janice Bower Leave a Comment

Related Articles

  • patient and doctor shaking hands

    Always Seeing the Same Doctor Lowers Early Death Risk (Study)

    Jun 29, 2018
  • people who work out

    What Happens When You Work Out

    Jun 28, 2018
  • female flight attendant

    Flight Attendants, More Likely to Develop Some Types of Cancer (Study)

    Jun 26, 2018
  • overweight person

    Body-Positive Movement Likely Contributes to Obesity Crisis (Study)

    Jun 25, 2018
  • Alzheimer's symptoms

    Herpes Virus Might Be Linked to Alzheimer’s (Study)

    Jun 22, 2018
  • cup of coffee

    Coffee Might Be Good for Your Heart, But with a Limit (Study)

    Jun 22, 2018
  • Parkinson's in the brain

    Parkinson’s Drugs Can Make People Gamblers or Sex Addicts

    Jun 21, 2018
  • freshly-made pizza

    Why Your Brain Loves Fatty, High-Carb Foods (Study)

    Jun 19, 2018
  • group of teens

    Teens Having Less Sex, Doing Less Drugs, More Are Depressed

    Jun 15, 2018
  • woman sleeping

    Too Much or Too Little Sleep are Both Bad for Your Health (Study)

    Jun 14, 2018

Categories

  • Business
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • Headlines
  • Health
  • Nature
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • U.S.
  • Uncategorized
  • World

Copyright © 2021 lighthousenewsdaily.com

About | Contact · Staff · Terms and Conditions · Privacy Policy