Advances in robotic prostheses

Purpose This paper aims to provide details of recent advances in robotic prostheses with the emphasis on the control and sensing technologies. Design/methodology/approach Following a short introduction, this paper first discusses the main robotic prosthesis control strategies. It then provides details of recent research and developments using non-invasive and invasive brain–computer interfaces (BCIs). These are followed by examples of studies that seek to confer robotic prostheses with sensory feedback. Finally, brief conclusions are drawn. Findings A significant body of research is underway involving electromyographic and BCI technologies, often in combination with advanced data processing and analysis schemes. This has the potential to yield robotic prostheses with advanced capabilities such as greater dexterity and sensory feedback. Originality/value This illustrates how electromyographic, BCI, signal processing and sensor technologies are being used to create robotic prostheses with enhanced functionality.

Noninvasive Human-Prosthesis Interfaces for Locomotion Intent Recognition: A Review

The lower-limb robotic prostheses can provide assistance for amputees’ daily activities by restoring the biomechanical functions of missing limb(s). To set proper control strategies and develop the corresponding controller for robotic prosthesis, a prosthesis user’s intent must be acquired in time, which is still a major challenge and has attracted intensive attentions. This work focuses on the robotic prosthesis user’s locomotion intent recognition based on the noninvasive sensing methods from the recognition task perspective (locomotion mode recognition, gait event detection, and continuous gait phase estimation) and reviews the state-of-the-art intent recognition techniques in a lower-limb prosthesis scope. The current research status, including recognition approach, progress, challenges, and future prospects in the human’s intent recognition, has been reviewed. In particular for the recognition approach, the paper analyzes the recent studies and discusses the role of each element in locomotion intent recognition. This work summarizes the existing research results and problems and contributes a general framework for the intent recognition based on lower-limb prosthesis.

Mechanisms of neuro-robotic prosthesis operation in leg amputees

Above-knee amputees suffer the lack of sensory information, even while using most advanced prostheses. Restoring intraneural sensory feedback results in functional and cognitive benefits. It is unknown how this artificial feedback, restored through a neuro-robotic leg, influences users’ sensorimotor strategies and its implications for future wearable robotics. To unveil these mechanisms, we measured gait markers of a sensorized neuroprosthesis in two leg amputees during motor tasks of different difficulty. Novel sensorimotor strategies were intuitively promoted, allowing for a higher walking speed in both tasks. We objectively quantified the augmented prosthesis’ confidence and observed the reshaping of the legs’ kinematics toward a more physiological gait. In a possible scenario of a leg amputee driving a conventional car, we showed a finer pressure estimation from the prosthesis. Users exploited different features of the neural stimulation during tasks, suggesting that a simple prosthesis sensorization could be effective for future neuro-robotic prostheses.

Cut wires: The Electrophysiology of Regenerated Tissue

When nerves are damaged by trauma or disease, they are still capable of firing off electrical command signals that originate from the brain. Furthermore, those damaged nerves have an innate ability to partially regenerate, so they can heal from trauma and even reinnervate new muscle targets. For an amputee who has his/her damaged nerves surgically reconstructed, the electrical signals that are generated by the reinnervated muscle tissue can be sensed and interpreted with bioelectronics to control assistive devices or robotic prostheses. No two amputees will have identical physiologies because there are many surgical options for reconstructing residual limbs, which may in turn impact how well someone can interface with a robotic prosthesis later on. In this review, we aim to investigate what the literature has to say about different pathways for peripheral nerve regeneration and how each pathway can impact the neuromuscular tissue’s final electrophysiology. This information is important because it can guide us in planning the development of future bioelectronic devices, such as prosthetic limbs or neurostimulators. Future devices will primarily have to interface with tissue that has undergone some natural regeneration process, and so we have explored and reported here what is known about the bioelectrical features of neuromuscular tissue regeneration.