The results demonstrate the feasibility for people with tetraplegia, years after injury to the central nervous system, to recreate useful multidimensional control of complex devices directly from a small sample of neural signals.
Abstract:
Two people with long-standing tetraplegia use neural interface system-based control of a robotic arm to perform three-dimensional reach and grasp movements. John Donoghue and colleagues have previously demonstrated that people with tetraplegia can learn to use neural signals from the motor cortex to control a computer cursor. Work from another lab has also shown that monkeys can learn to use such signals to feed themselves with a robotic arm. Now, Donoghue and colleagues have advanced the technology to a level at which two people with long-standing paralysis — a 58-year-old woman and a 66-year-old man — are able to use a neural interface to direct a robotic arm to reach for and grasp objects. One subject was able to learn to pick up and drink from a bottle using a device implanted 5 years earlier, demonstrating not only that subjects can use the brain–machine interface, but also that it has potential longevity. Paralysis following spinal cord injury, brainstem stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other disorders can disconnect the brain from the body, eliminating the ability to perform volitional movements. A neural interface system1,2,3,4,5 could restore mobility and independence for people with paralysis by translating neuronal activity directly into control signals for assistive devices. We have previously shown that people with long-standing tetraplegia can use a neural interface system to move and click a computer cursor and to control physical devices6,7,8. Able-bodied monkeys have used a neural interface system to control a robotic arm9, but it is unknown whether people with profound upper extremity paralysis or limb loss could use cortical neuronal ensemble signals to direct useful arm actions. Here we demonstrate the ability of two people with long-standing tetraplegia to use neural interface system-based control of a robotic arm to perform three-dimensional reach and grasp movements. Participants controlled the arm and hand over a broad space without explicit training, using signals decoded from a small, local population of motor cortex (MI) neurons recorded from a 96-channel microelectrode array. One of the study participants, implanted with the sensor 5 years earlier, also used a robotic arm to drink coffee from a bottle. Although robotic reach and grasp actions were not as fast or accurate as those of an able-bodied person, our results demonstrate the feasibility for people with tetraplegia, years after injury to the central nervous system, to recreate useful multidimensional control of complex devices directly from a small sample of neural signals.
TL;DR: Electronic networks comprised of flexible, stretchable, and robust devices that are compatible with large-area implementation and integrated with multiple functionalities is a testament to the progress in developing an electronic skin akin to human skin.
TL;DR: This study shows how to design and train convolutional neural networks to decode task‐related information from the raw EEG without handcrafted features and highlights the potential of deep ConvNets combined with advanced visualization techniques for EEG‐based brain mapping.
TL;DR: With continued development of neuroprosthetic limbs, individuals with long-term paralysis could recover the natural and intuitive command signals for hand placement, orientation, and reaching, allowing them to perform activities of daily living.
TL;DR: This work reviews the state-of-the-art techniques for controlling portable active lower limb prosthetic and orthotic P/O devices in the context of locomotive activities of daily living (ADL), and considers how these can be interfaced with the user’s sensory-motor control system.
TL;DR: On May 25, 1977, IEEE member, Virginia Edgerton, a senior information scientist employed by the City of New York, telephoned the chairman of CSIT's Working Group on Ethics and Employment Practices, having been referred to the committee by IEEE Headquarters.
TL;DR: Initial results for a tetraplegic human using a pilot NMP suggest that NMPs based upon intracortical neuronal ensemble spiking activity could provide a valuable new neurotechnology to restore independence for humans with paralysis.
TL;DR: In this paper, a co-adaptive algorithm uses the firing rate of the sensed neurons or neuron groupings to help develop the control signals for an object is developed from the neuron-originating electrical impulses detected by electrode arrays implanted in a subject's cerebral cortex at the pre-motor locations known to have association with arm movements.
TL;DR: A system that permits embodied prosthetic control is described and monkeys (Macaca mulatta) use their motor cortical activity to control a mechanized arm replica in a self-feeding task, and this demonstration of multi-degree-of-freedom embodied prosthetics control paves the way towards the development of dexterous prosthetic devices that could ultimately achieve arm and hand function at a near-natural level.
TL;DR: New technology to engineer the tissue-electrode interface, electrode design, and extraction algorithms to transform the recorded signal to movement will help translate exciting laboratory demonstrations to patient practice in the near future.
Q1. What contributions have the authors mentioned in the paper "Reach and grasp by people with tetraplegia using a neurally controlled robotic arm" ?
The authors have previously shown that people with long-standing tetraplegia can use a neural interface system to move and click a computer cursor and to control physical devices. Here the authors demonstrate the ability of two people with long-standing tetraplegia to use neural interface system-based control of a robotic arm to perform three-dimensional reach and grasp movements. One of the study participants, implanted with the sensor 5 years earlier, also used a robotic arm to drink coffee from a bottle. The study participants, referred to as S3 and T2 ( a 58-year-old woman, and a 66-year-old man, respectively ), were each tetraplegic and anarthric as a result of a brainstem stroke. 3 years before the beginning of this study ; for T2, in June 2011, 5 months before this study ). S3 had used the DLR robot on multiple occasions over the previous year for algorithm development and interface testing, but she had no exposure to the DEKA arm before the sessions reported here. T2 participated in three DEKA arm sessions for similar development and testing before the session reported here but had no other experience using the robotic arms. After decoder calibration, the authors assessed whether each participant could use the robotic arm to reach for and grasp foam ball targets of diameter 6 cm, presented in three-dimensional space one at a time by motorized levers ( Fig. 1a–c and Supplementary Fig. 1b ). To decode movement intentions from neural activity, electrical potentials from each of the 96 channels were filtered to reveal extracellular action potentials ( that is, ‘ unit ’ activity ).
Q2. What was the effect of the visual inspection on the target placement?
Owing to variability in the position of the target-placing platform from session to session and changes in the angles of the spring-loaded rods used to hold the targets, visual inspection was used for scoring successful grasp and successful touch trials.
Q3. What was the purpose of the study?
Raw neural signals for each channel were sampled at 30 kHz and fed through custom Simulink (Mathworks) software in 100 ms bins (S3) or 20 ms bins (T2) to extract threshold crossing rates2,30; these threshold crossing rates were used as the neural features for real-time decoding and for filter calibration.
Q4. What was the subject’s position on the table?
During each session, participants were seated in a wheelchair with their feet located near or underneath the edge of the table supporting the target placement system.
Q5. Who was the author of the research?
The research was supported by the Rehabilitation Research and Development Service, Office of Research and Development, Department of Veterans Affairs (Merit Review Awards B6453R and A6779I; Career Development Transition Award B6310N).