In “AI-powered bionic limbs come at too high a cost for many,” the Financial Times covers the disparity in outcomes many prosthetic users face — as well as the University of Utah researchers who are trying to address this challenging problem.
The pace of progress for advanced prosthetic limbs can seem impressive, but there is still major unmet needs among people with upper-body limb loss. Robotic prostheses can be heavy and cumbersome, and with no easy way to control them, most users eventually stop using them. And with price-tags in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, only a select few have the opportunity in the first place.
Jacob George, an assistant professor in the Price College of Engineering’s Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine’s Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, is the director of the Utah NeuroRobotics Lab. There, he and his colleagues are developing a direct neural interface that allows users to control a robotic prosthetic with just their thoughts. Machine learning algorithms translate the brain’s native signaling patterns into a format that the device can understand, and vice-versa — the returning signals give the user a new sense of touch.
Speaking with FT’s Marine Saint, George pointed out the key features of the “neuroprostheses” he and his colleagues work on:
The arm, one of the few above-elbow options, picks up on neural signals rather than muscle ones. AI helps to amplify this process in the residual limb and can decode motion patterns.
The AI “may not be perfect”, says George, but “it’s still the human in the driver’s seat”.
Putting users first is part of the NeuroRobotics Lab’s philosophy: if a prosthetic isn’t intuitive to use, no amount of physical dexterity will help. In the next step within its clinical trial, the lab is now ready to test day-to-day use of these sorts of neuroprostheses.
George also serves as Chief Scientist for Biologic Input Output Systems (BIOS). In 2022, BIOS executed a licensing agreement with the University of Utah for the technology behind the direct neural interface to allow users to control a robotic prosthetic with their thoughts and feel life-like sensation. The overwhelmingly positive results of this technology to date has earned the BIOS direct nerve interface a “Breakthrough Device Designation” from the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in March 2024, as well as admission into its Total Product Lifecycle Advisory Program. The FDA uses these programs to fast-track promising experimental medical devices toward everyday use. Active collaboration continues to evolve the technology towards commercialization.
Read more at the Financial Times.