One problem with most prosthetic hands, is that they don’t give the user any sense of touch. This makes it almost impossible to know how much force to use when trying to hold or manipulate something. Don’t squeeze hard enough and the object might fall out of your hand, but squeeze too hard and you…
Doctors will attempt to reanimate a patient’s paralyzed arm with a pioneering surgery that involves capturing signals from his brain and restoring movement through a fine network of electronics linked to arm muscles. The new effort, being planned by researchers at Case Western Reserve University, will use a brain computer interface, or BCI, developed by…
A new form of prosthetic interface has been developed raising the possibility that future amputees might not only have their mobility restored, but also their sense of touch. Although advances in prosthetic arms are creating increasingly dexterous limbs (and this is arms rather than legs – the latter are far simpler beasts, mechanically speaking) the…
CLEVELAND, Ohio– Plucking the stem off a fat, juicy cherry may seem like a simple task, but it’s practically Herculean for an artificial hand—that’s because the prosthetic limbs,while much more dexterous and sophisticated than ever before, still can’t feel the cherry. The end result is a lot of squished fruit. But researchers at Case Western…
Amputee Igor Spetic says the device can even produce the sensation of touching different textures, such as smooth metal, fluffy cotton balls, rough sandpaper, and soft hair. Over the past few years, artificial hands have come a long way in terms of dexterity. They can grasp, shake hands, point, and, usefully, make the “come hither” gesture.…
Two Case Western Reserve University scientists who are leaders in innovation and turning discoveries into improvements in health, new materials and more have been named Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Robert H. Miller, professor of neurosciences and the university’s vice president for research, and P. Hunter Peckham, the Donnell Institute Professor of…
A new nerve interface can simulate a sense of touch from 20 spots on a prosthetic hand. There have been remarkable mechanical advances in prosthetic limbs in recent years, including rewiring nerve fibers to control sophisticated mechanical arms and brain interfaces that allow for complicated thought control. But for all this progress, prosthetic limbs cannot…
Megan Moynahan, Executive Director, Institute for Functional Restoration, presents at TEDxBrussels “Engineering the Human Nervous System”. View the Presentation
Case Western Reserve University has appointed Robert F. Kirsch chairman of the biomedical engineering department and Kenneth A. Loparo chairman of the electrical engineering and computer science department. Kirsch and Loparo are prolific researchers, proven leaders among their peers and consistently highly regarded in annual student reviews. “They are doers who will take action and…
Financial planner Scott Fessler was a highly energetic, athletic young father when at the age of 33, he was in a near-fatal motorcycle crash. Scott suffered fractures to his cervical vertebrae, resulting in paralysis from the neck down. Immediately after the July 2006 accident, Scott underwent spinalsurgery to fuse his C4-C6 vertebrae. He suffers chronic…