Einstein Presentation

CAn a robotic arm be controlled by the brain?

Presented by:Alessandro Daolio & Francesco Gandolfi4BS

Johnny Matheny, founder of Starfish Foundation

The question

Picking up an object and moving it from one place to another might seem like an easy, everyday task. But for many people with tetraplegia, it is not possible.In this study, we developed a system, that includes implants in the part of their brain that senses touch from the hand.

What is tetraplegia?

Tetraplegia is a patology which affects about 170'000 people in the United States.It can be caused by any type of incident of a spinal cord, and so the injured people have tetraplegia. That means they cannot move or feel parts of their bodies. This often includes their arms and legs.

Tetraplegic (or Quadriplegic) tries the sense of touch for the first time

Experiment about sense of touch in a chinese university

The developing of the project

Firstly, has been developed a brain-computer interface, which translate the brain signals in instructions for the robotic arm.The first interface was based only on vision sensors and it was successful, but very slow!Consequently, the second try result faster thanks to the addition of touch sensors on the robotic hand.

Example of microelectrode implants

METHODS

We put four microelectrode arrays into a volunteer’s brain. A microelectrode array contains sensors that record and cause neural signals.Then, we placed two arrays in the part of the brain that controls hand and arm movement. These arrays sentneural signals to control the robotic arm.

TEST METHOD

After the implant, we asked our study participant to complete a set of tasks. They had to use the robotic arm to grasp and pick up an object. Then they placed it on a platform as quickly as possible. They did this for eight different objects. They also had to pick up a cup, pour the contents into another cup, and place the cup back down on the table.

This column chart shows the time spent from the patients to complete some tasks with and without the touch feedback from the robotic arm.

RESULTS

Time to Complete Tasks (Seconds)

REFERENCES

• https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abd0380

• https://www.rnel.pitt.edu/research/neuroprosthetics/intracortical-brain-computer-interfaces

• https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/brain-nervous-system.html

Francesco Gandolfi, Alessandro Daolio - 4ᵃBS

Thanks foryour attention