Prostheses, which can be controlled by the power of thought, are already in full use in medicine. And what if your prosthesis has its own "thoughts"?
A team of researchers from the University of Newcastle in the UK has developed an artificial arm that can recognize objects in front of them and take them on their own. To give the hand of sight, the authors used a simple Logitech web camera, and then developed a special software to identify the items they saw.
"Using the technology of computer vision, we created a bionic hand that automatically reacts to the objects seen before it," said project co-author, senior lecturer of the department of biomedical engineering Kianush Nazarpur. "It turns out, the owner of the prosthesis can stretch the prosthesis and take the object, for example, a cup, just by quickly glancing at it."
As the researchers note, the problem of prostheses, which are controlled by electrical signals sent to the limb muscles from the brain, is that they do not react quickly enough to signals. Team Nazarpura believes that their development is much more intuitive. With the help of special software they "trained" a bionic hand to recognize many different objects, and then automatically determine how to take this thing. Moreover, it can independently choose the "type of capture" for an item that has never before been seen.
The developers tested the device on two volunteers whose arm was amputated. The tests were successful, and now the research team is going to offer its "smart" prosthesis for use in the local hospital.
"It is very important that our technology is cheap, and it can be applied in the very near future," notes Kianush Nazarpur.
Researchers will continue to work on the prosthesis: their ultimate goal is to "teach" the bionic hand to feel pressure and temperature.
