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After a Year of Secret Field-Testing, Brain-Controlled Bionic Legs Are Here

Posted by Soulskill on from the i'll-order-a-dozen dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Today, an Icelandic prosthetic-maker announced that two amputees have been testing brain-controlled bionic legs for over a year. The devices respond to impulses in the subjects' residual limbs, via sensors that were implanted in simple, 15-minute-long procedures. "When the electrical impulse from his brain reaches the base of his leg, a pair of sensors embedded in his muscle tissue connect the neural dots, and wirelessly transmit that signal to the Proprio Foot. Since the command reaches the foot before the wearer's residual muscles actually contract, there's no unnatural lag between intention and action." This is a huge step forward (sorry) for this class of bionics. It may seem like a solved problem based on reports and videos from laboratories, but it's never been exposed to real world use and everyday wear and tear like this.

12 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. It's a shame Rudy Wells didn't live to see this by NotDrWho · · Score: 2

    Oh why did he have to have such a weakness for cocaine and those twinks at Studio 54???

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  2. I wonder how long... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I wonder how far technology would have to advance and how long it might be before people actually choose to have a limb or limbs removed specifically so that they can be replaced with something more powerful or capable? 20 years? 100 years? Or would natural human aversion to losing body parts prevent this?

    1. Re:I wonder how long... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I wonder how far technology would have to advance and how long it might be before people actually choose to have a limb or limbs removed specifically so that they can be replaced with something more powerful or capable? 20 years? 100 years? Or would natural human aversion to losing body parts prevent this?

      Crack open a Ripley's Believe It Or Not and look at all the freaks with tattoos and piercings all over their bodies. One guy was tattooed green EVERYWHERE and had his teeth sharpened so he could be "the lizardman". He cut his own tongue down the middle so it was "forked" too. There are lots of others.

      Never underestimate how many crazy freaky people there are for whom there are no such natural aversions. Even today we have a class of mental illness of people who *want* to be amputees, not because they have any plans for cool prosthetics but because they want to be amputees. Some people some where will do this on purpose, it defintely will happen.

    2. Re:I wonder how long... by hey! · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, they're already opting to have damaged natural joints like hips and knees replaced. That's a case of upgrading from natural to artificial to gain function. As the performance of artificial limbs increase, it might become an increasingly commonplace treatment for older people, just like knee or hip replacement.

      If we project that trend forward for twenty or thirty years I wouldn't be surprised at all to see artificial legs that outperform natural legs for the purposes of walking or even running. But I don't think people with normal abilities will be trading in their limbs just to be able walk a little longer, run a little faster, or carry more weight. That won't happen until the replacement is subjectively indistinguishable from the real thing; until you can feel the grass under your toes.

      I'm comfortable predicting locomotion parity in the next fifty years, but I wouldn't care to speculate on when we'll see sensory parity.

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    3. Re:I wonder how long... by dj245 · · Score: 2

      Well, they're already opting to have damaged natural joints like hips and knees replaced. That's a case of upgrading from natural to artificial to gain function. As the performance of artificial limbs increase, it might become an increasingly commonplace treatment for older people, just like knee or hip replacement.

      If we project that trend forward for twenty or thirty years I wouldn't be surprised at all to see artificial legs that outperform natural legs for the purposes of walking or even running. But I don't think people with normal abilities will be trading in their limbs just to be able walk a little longer, run a little faster, or carry more weight. That won't happen until the replacement is subjectively indistinguishable from the real thing; until you can feel the grass under your toes.

      I'm comfortable predicting locomotion parity in the next fifty years, but I wouldn't care to speculate on when we'll see sensory parity.

      I think it will be way more likely that exoskeleton type systems using the same control mechanism will be developed. They could have adaptive algorithms which gradually decrease the power output over time, forcing the patient to develop muscle mass in a safe and 100% controlled manner. It could prevent people with broken or weak bones from making damaging movements, while at the same time allowing rehabilitative movements. It would revolutionize the rehabilitation industry.

      The same technology could be used, it has all the advantages of bionic limb replacement, plus you get to keep your limbs.

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    4. Re:I wonder how long... by bev_tech_rob · · Score: 2

      I wonder how far technology would have to advance and how long it might be before people actually choose to have a limb or limbs removed specifically so that they can be replaced with something more powerful or capable? 20 years? 100 years? Or would natural human aversion to losing body parts prevent this?

      For folks with muscular degenerative diseases, I would think it would be a Godsend. If my limbs were wasting away due to some ailment, hell yea I would have them swapped out. Now if they could get ocular implants perfected (like Geordi LaForge in Star Trek - Nemesis), I would swap out my lazy eye in a heartbeat so I could have 20/20 vision (or close) in both eyes!

      --
      You're messin' with my Zen Thing, man.....
  3. Degradation by Forgefather · · Score: 2

    I have heard that there can be degradation between the squishy bits and the electronic interfaces for these kinds of prosthetics. Any word on whether these limbs suffer the same problem? From the sound of it, it seems like the interface isn't directly connected to the tissue.

    --
    "There are lies, there are damn lies, and there are statistics"
  4. Arbitrary appendages? by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 2

    I wonder what the limits of this are.

    I.e., if we take a sufficiently young human with a very plastic brain, can we give them two additional arms, or a flagellum, or whatever, and have it all work out well?

    1. Re:Arbitrary appendages? by swillden · · Score: 2

      Well that was my point about having very plastic brains. I'm not a neuroscientist, and I don't know how much details like (I have specifically four major appendages to control; two arms, two legs) are baked into the brain from day 0, vs. being just one of the configurations to which a very young brain can adapt.

      You missed the point, I think.

      The bionic foot in the article doesn't receive signals directly from the brain. It receives signals as they arrive at existing muscles. So we're talking about a brain that has already been wired naturally to control normally-grown muscles, and hijacking that message to also actuate motors. To use this process for additional limbs, you'd have to have a person who had grown those limbs to begin with.

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    2. Re:Arbitrary appendages? by ClickOnThis · · Score: 2

      I wonder what the limits of this are.

      Internet rule 34.

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      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
  5. Clint Eastwood asks... by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Funny

    Clint Eastwood here. Do you have to think in Icelandic?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  6. Re:Brain-controlled? by afeeney · · Score: 3, Informative

    Well, more like "brain controlled" in that all our physical motions are brain-controlled. They're using the brain's signal to move the prosthetic as well as the nearest muscle. So somebody amputated above the knee would be able to control an artificial leg if normal functions of the leg could be coded into the prosthetic. (When this muscle flexes, move the leg like this, when that one flexes, move it like that.)