until now scientists have faced a major barrier: they haven’t been able to access nerve signals that are strong or stable enough to send to the bionic limb. Although it’s possible to get this sort of signal using a brain-machine interface, the procedure to implant one is invasive and costly. And the nerve signals carried by the peripheral nerves that fan out from the brain and spinal cord are too small.
A new implant gets around this problem by using machine learning to amplify these signals.
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It’s the first time researchers have recorded millivolt signals from a nerve—far stronger than any previous study.
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The procedure for the implant requires one of the amputee’s peripheral nerves to be cut and stitched up to the muscle. The site heals, developing nerves and blood vessels over three months. Electrodes are then implanted into these sites, allowing a nerve signal to be recorded and passed on to a prosthetic hand in real time. The signals are turned into movements using machine-learning algorithms (the same types that are used for brain-machine interfaces).
Amputees wearing the prosthetic hand were able to control each individual finger and swivel their thumbs, regardless of how recently they had lost their limb.