Artificial Limbs Which Can Perform Like In Real

Imagine yourself faced with an accident and have to amputate your leg or an arm? Without doubt that would be the worst thing that can happen to anyone in their life. The ultimate remedy for this is getting a ‘prosthesis’ or a ‘prosthetic limb’ which is commonly termed as an ‘artificial limb’. 

We often notice differently abled people with different kinds of prosthesis. In Para-Olympic games we can witness how well they can perform with their prosthetic limbs.

Prosthesis is defined as an artificially made substitution for a missing body part due to an accident, a diseases, conditions presents at birth (congenital defects) or wartime injuries. This medical device helps the patient to perform their daily functions properly.

Cosmesis vs prosthesis;

Cosmesis is a type of prosthesis with almost no function but camouflaged to look nearly natural.

(Eg: artificial hands) 

Cosmetic arm

Prosthetic limb

Prosthesis are powerful, highly functional but almost no camouflage. Just made with structural part of the limb.
(Eg: artificial legs which can be covered with pants)

Prosthetic arm

Robotic prosthetic limbs

Robotic arm

A robotic prosthetic limb is a better solution for the amputees. The technological advancement gradually paved the way to develop these high performance prosthesis. But, there is much room for improvements specifically in their rigid ways of operation. The experts are continuously working on making the controls more natural and human like. 

‘Movable Phantom Limb’

In France, a team of researchers, engineers, neuroscientists and medical doctors are developing a more natural method for controlling prosthesis using a phenomenon known as phantom limb sensation.

Watch the video- From Phantom Limb to Prosthetic Arm

A phantom limb sensation is a psychological side effect or a sensation experienced by a person that an amputated limb is still there. The important fact is, that this sensation can produce real muscular signals (muscular contractions).

Phantom limb sensation

These muscular signals or muscular electrical activity can be measured using electrodes attached to the residual tissues (skin) and those signals can be represented in a visual display or in an audible signal. This is called as ‘Electromyography’.

Measuring muscular electrical activity with electrodes attached to the skin

The objective of the researchers is to build up a self-teaching algorithm which can be fed with the data (muscular signals) in order to identify the corresponding muscular signal to the movement. 

Why ‘Movable Phantom Limb’?

Usually patients have to learn and practice how to live  the prosthetic limb, how to take the use of it when using the normal prosthetic limb. But the movable phantom limb is already adapted to the patient’s movements, and therefore patient can control the prosthesis naturally as their own arm or leg.

Experimenting the movable phantom limb

Future? 

Technology grows so fast. It does not just happen by chance, but by the contribution of all of us. Our intention must be to help the mankind in better means, not to destroy the beauty of nature but to enhance it. Not only legs and arms, there may be things beyond our thinking which can perform close to natural mechanisms. Which is why nature is always the best teacher when it comes to engineering.

Futuristic prosthetic arm

Nipuni Anuththara Herath
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
FOE, University of Sri Jayewardenepura

References

From Phantom Limb to Prosthetic Arm. 2019. [Film] Directed by Basile Trouillet. France: CNSR Images.

Woodford, C., 2019. EXPLAINTHATSTUFF!. [Online] Available at: https://www.explainthatstuff.com/prosthetic-artificial-limbs.html [Accessed 22 March 2020].