Robotic Arms Allow Partially Paralyzed Man To Feed Himself
(Posted on Thursday, July 14, 2022)
This story on neuro-prosthetics is part of an extended series on Regenerative Medicine. For other stories on this topic see williamhaseltine.com and search for Regenerative Medicine. My definition of Regenerative Medicine is any medical modality that returns us to normal health when we are damaged by disease, injured by trauma, disadvantaged by birth, or worn by time. Modalities include: chemicals, genes, proteins and cells used as drugs, gene editing, prosthetics, and mind-machine interfaces.
Thanks to the work of scientists at Johns Hopkins University, a partially paralyzed man was able to feed himself using just his mind and a pair of robotic arms. The 49-year-old man suffered from a spinal injury nearly thirty years ago, leaving him with limited upper body mobility and an inability to use any of his fingers. Now, with the help of an advanced brain-machine interface, the man can command robotic prosthetic arms to cut and feed him food simply by making subtle movements with his wrists and hands in response to audio prompts such as “select cut location” or “moving food to fork”.