Electrical Artificial Limbs: A new method

Written by: Jair Mendes

          It used to take months to learn how to use an electrical artificial limb- soon it will take minutes. This is because of a new device called "Evolvable Hardware," which can understand/interpret the message that's being sent from the muscles to the electrical artificial limb. It is nearly completed and can adapt and adjust to the individual. This is a much simpler process than trying to use the limb yourself. This is all thanks to researchers at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. The chip that they're developing will enable the electrical artificial limb to reconfigure itself and handle the signals that are being sent by the individual. The chip can be found in the area that connects the muscles to the electrical artificial limb.

          The chip, which produces new sequences using genetic algorithms, are combined with other sequences to produce offspring. The offspring that is the fittest is then bred again and again until the most effective design has been produced. In each case, it has to match the output signal of the muscle. This chip has been tested ten times with 81 percent accuracy.

        So far there has been a lot of progress, even though the chip has only been tested in simulations. Now all they need is people who are willing to get involved in their clinical trials.

For more information go to:
http://www.newscientist.com/nsplus/insight/ai/helpinghand.html