The Science Behind The Advanced Prosthetic Arm And Its Future Prospects

The Science Behind The Advanced Prosthetic Arm And Its Future Prospects

The traditional approach of using prosthetic arms relies on a compression cup that is attached to the limb of a person. There are various difficulties in using attached prosthetic limbs. This is because they often turn out to be painful and uncomfortable for amputees. As such, a lot of amputees discontinue their usage citing the above reasons. However, researchers have now come up with an advanced prosthetic arm that can be controlled by the mind of a person. This is a very advanced technology and is synchronized with the cognitive capabilities of the brain. A prosthetic arm that is controlled by the brain can provide a life-changing experience to persons who have lost their limbs.

The breakthrough

The exercise to develop advanced prosthetic arms that are controlled by the mind has now been going on for the last 10 years. The technology behind the development of these prosthetic arms is called osseointegration. In this process, the prosthetic arm is attached to the bone by performing complex surgery. This medical procedure ensures that the prosthetic arm also takes input from the muscles as well as the nerves. In this advanced prosthetic arm, electrodes are also implanted so that the signals from the brain of a person can be recorded. This ensures that the new prosthetic arm is in perfect synchronization with bones, muscles, nerves as well as the brain. This technology that was in the nascent stage since the last decade has now started to shift to the commercialization stage. Various feedback surveys have been conducted from the persons that have successfully undergone surgical installation of prosthetic arms. The high levels of satisfaction and ease of access that the new prosthetic arm provides are particularly interesting. The best thing about the advanced prosthetic arm that is fully controlled by the mind is that it is devoid of any kind of pain that the amputees suffered when they used conventional compression-based artificial limbs.

The science behind the technology

The first step in the process is a complex surgery that attaches the limb to the bone with the help of osseointegration. This means that the technology relies on the extension of the skeleton to perform the function that a particular bone had performed in the past and that too in a natural way. After this, the electrodes are fitted inside the muscles as well as the nerves. The aim of installing the small electrodes is that they record the signals as well as the impulses that serve as inputs to cause a particular moment. The advanced prosthetic arm is also provided with an artificial intelligence algorithm that works in a similar way as compared to the human brain. It utilizes deep neural network technology to cause movements as per the will of the person. In this way, the prosthetic arm is fully under the intuitive control of a person. The technology provides bi-directional movement that allows effective communication between the sensors, muscles as well as brain. As soon as the prosthetic arm touches a particular object, sensors installed at the end send the signal to the electrodes that move on to the brain and cause an influx to trigger a particular movement. The beauty of the advanced prosthetic arms is that it gives a natural feeling of touch that was not possible in the traditional prosthetic arms.

The next big thing in prosthesis

The advanced prosthetic arm is really a major breakthrough and a fruit of successive years of hard work and research that the scientists have put in. The advanced prosthetic arms that are controlled with help of a mind have already gone into the commercialization stage. The only dilemma around their wide usage is about factors like cost and convenience. The people who have lost their limbs are skeptical about the surgical procedure that is necessary to implant the advanced prosthetic arm. In addition to this, the high costs of the surgical procedure, as well as the corresponding device, might be a limiting factor. However, constant efforts are being made to bring down the cost of surgical procedures as well as AI-powered prosthetic devices. In the future, we may expect further improvements in this technology and its wide adoption in various countries of the world.

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