TOS Blog: Daily Commentary from an Objectivist Perspective

Monday, December 17, 2012

Heroic Researchers Markedly Improve Thought-Controlled Prosthetics for the Severely Paralyzed

Posted by Ross England at 4:36 pm ET

Jennifer Collinger, Andrew Schwartz, and other researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System have made spectacular progress in the treatment of severe paralysis by producing a new, highly advanced thought-controlled prosthetic arm. In a summary of their work published today in The Lancet, the research team described how they implanted two microelectrodes into the movement-controlling regions of 52-year-old Jan Scheuermann’s brain and trained her, over the course of 13 weeks, to move it by means of her thoughts. According to the report, “[Scheuermann] was . . . able to use the prosthetic limb to do skillful and coordinated reach and grasp movements that resulted in clinically significant gains in tests of upper limb function.”

Scheuermann, who has a genetic disease called spinocerebellar degeneration, has suffered progressive paralysis since 1996 and is now quadriplegic and unable to voluntarily move any muscles below her neck. Nevertheless, she has an extraordinarily positive outlook, saying “I can’t even shrug my shoulders. But I have come to the conclusion that worrying about something is experiencing it twice. I try to dwell on the good things I have.” The trial use of her neuroprosthetic arm has, little-by-little, enabled her to perform tactile skills which before were impossible for her, culminating in a delightful video of her achieving a personal goal of feeding herself a piece of chocolate.

The research team has even bigger plans for future trials. They hope one day to make the device wireless and to include sensors so that patients can feel temperature and other sensations with the prosthetic. Collinger describes the group’s goals: “We’re hoping this can become a fully implanted, wireless system that people can actually use in their homes without supervision. It might even be possible to combine brain control with a device that directly stimulates muscles to restore movement in the individual’s own limb.”

Though the device has only helped one patient so far, Collinger, Schwartz, and their colleagues are engaged in research that may one day improve the lives of thousands of severely paralyzed individuals. Kudos to these heroic men and women of the mind.

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Image: UPMC

Posted in: Science and Technology

Comments are welcome so long as they are civil.
  • Anonymous

    OT, but if anyone knows of a specific objective legal framework for gun ownership, it’s time to put it on the table. To be sure, I see the primary driver of the use of guns for murder as the culture of irrationalism, which, I believe is needed and perpetuated by religion — itself just a weed that grows where a philosophy of reason is absent. But, there will be gun law changes and they might as well be good ones.

  • Anonymous

    I wonder if this would help with CP. I have a friend that’s wheelchair bound (a fast electric one) and has to use a stick on a mouthpiece to even use a computer, which is how he was able to work for many years, although I think he got some sort of gov aid as well. He’s very hard to understand although, after some practice, one can understand most of what he says. He sounds retarded but he’s not. He has a degree of some kind from the University of California and he writes very well. He’s totally not self pitying. I don’t know how he does it, but he’s had girl friends too. Even being able to use his hands would be an enormous step for him.

  • http://twitter.com/HVV_com Het Vrije Volk .com

    Still waiting for my bionic upgrade. Although I’m afraid $ 6,000,000 is not gonna cut it.