凯文·沃尔加莫特有一种很好的“感觉”，能把鸡蛋捡起来而不把它压碎.
对其他人来说似乎很简单的事情对Walgamott来说可能是一项艰巨的任务, 他在17年前的一次电气事故中失去了左手和部分手臂. 但他当时正在测试一种高科技假肢的原型，这种假肢的手指不仅可以移动, they can move with his thoughts. 感谢犹他大学的生物医学工程团队与犹他大学健康中心的康复专家和外科医生的合作, 他很好地“感受”了鸡蛋，这样他的大脑就能告诉假手不要用力挤压.
这是因为由U生物医学工程副教授领导的研究小组 Gregory Clark, Ph.D., 为“卢克手臂”（得名于《大发体育官网》中卢克·天行者的机械手）开发了一种方法，通过向大脑发送适当的信号来模仿人手感知物体的方式. 他们的研究结果发表在一篇新的论文中，该论文由U生物医学工程博士生雅各布·乔治（Jacob George）合著, physical medicine and rehabilitation assistant professor Christopher Duncan, M.D., orthopedics professor Douglas Hutchinson, M.D., and other colleagues, in the latest edition of the journal Science Robotics.
“大发娱乐改变了向大脑发送信息的方式，使其与人体相匹配. And by matching the human body, we were able to see improved benefits," says George "We're making more biologically realistic signals."
这意味着佩戴假肢的截肢者可以感知柔软或坚硬物体的触摸, understand better how to pick it up, 并执行精细的任务，否则是不可能的标准假肢与金属挂钩或爪子的手.
"It almost put me to tears,沃尔加莫特在2017年的临床试验中首次使用了LUKE手臂. "It was really amazing. I never thought I would be able to feel in that hand again."
After hand surgeon Douglas Hutchinson, M.D., 在沃尔加莫特的神经和前臂肌肉中植入了几个电极阵列，大发娱乐控制手和手腕, he was able to test the LUKE arm. In Clark's lab, Walgamott plucked grapes without crushing them, picked up an egg without cracking it, 他握着妻子的手，手指的感觉就像一个健全的人.
"They feel their sense of self is returned," says Hutchinson referring to study participants like Walgamott. "And that's a big, wonderful thing."
康复专家邓肯专注于研究的早期阶段，试图回答一个基本问题. "How does a person move through their space if they're missing their hands?" he asks. “你的想法和感觉可能是一样的，但你的行动能力在很大程度上是有限的."
邓肯开始通过3d打印手和植入传感器来寻找答案，这样志愿者就可以开始用他们的思想控制假肢. These initial steps were a bridge to the LUKE hand.
“大发娱乐正在了解当你拿起一个物体并操纵它时，感知它是多么重要，以及有多重要, paradoxically, it makes it more a part of your body to just perceive sensation," says Duncan. "It's something that becomes a part of your body."
The LUKE Arm
The LUKE Arm has been in development for some 15 years. 手臂本身主要由金属马达和手部有透明硅“皮肤”的部件组成. It is powered by an external battery and wired to a computer. It was developed by DEKA Research & Development Corp., a New Hampshire-based company founded by Segway inventor Dean Kamen.
Meanwhile, U团队一直在开发一种系统，可以让假肢进入佩戴者的神经, which are like biological wires that send signals to the arm to move. 这要归功于犹他大学生物医学工程名誉教授Richard A. Normann called the Utah Slanted Electrode Array. 该阵列由100个微电极和导线组成，被植入截肢者前臂的神经中，并与体外的计算机相连. The array interprets the signals from the still-remaining arm nerves, 计算机将它们转换成数字信号，告诉手臂移动.
But it also works the other way. 要完成像捡起物体这样的任务，需要的不仅仅是大脑告诉手移动. 假手还必须学会如何“感觉”物体，以便知道要施加多大的压力，因为你不能仅仅通过观察它来计算.
First, 义肢的手上有传感器，通过阵列向神经发送信号，模拟手抓住东西的感觉. But equally important is how those signals are sent. 它涉及到理解你的大脑在第一次接触某物时是如何处理信息转换的. Upon first contact of an object, a burst of impulses runs up the nerves to the brain and then tapers off. Recreating this was a big step.
"Just providing sensation is a big deal, but the way you send that information is also critically important, and if you make it more biologically realistic, 大脑会更好地理解它，这种感觉的表现也会更好," says Clark.
To achieve that, 克拉克的研究小组利用数学计算和灵长类动物手臂上的脉冲记录，创建了一个人类如何接收这些不同信号模式的近似模型. That model was then implemented into the LUKE Arm system.
Future Research
In addition to creating a prototype of the LUKE Arm with a sense of touch, 整个团队已经在开发一个完全便携的版本，不需要连接到体外的电脑上. 取而代之的是，所有东西都可以无线连接，给佩戴者完全的自由.
克拉克说，犹他州倾斜电极阵列还能够向大脑发送信号，而不仅仅是触觉, such as pain and temperature, though the paper primarily addresses touch. 虽然他们的工作目前只涉及那些肘部以下的截肢者, where the muscles to move the hand are located, 克拉克说，他们的研究也可以应用于那些失去肘部以上手臂的人.
Clark hopes that in 2020 or 2021, three test subjects will be able to take the arm home to use, pending federal regulatory approval.
这项研究涉及包括美国神经外科在内的许多机构, 物理医学与康复科和骨科, the University of Chicago's Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, the Cleveland Clinic's Department of Biomedical Engineering, 以及犹他州的神经技术公司Ripple Neuro LLC和Blackrock Microsystems. 该项目由国防高级研究计划局和国家科学基金会资助.
"This is an incredible interdisciplinary effort," says Clark. “如果没有团队中每个人的巨大努力，大发娱乐不可能做到这一点."