For Medical Personnel

We are working to identify clinical transition partners to leverage and advance Revolutionizing Prosthetics technologies. The Modular Prosthetic Limb (MPL) can accommodate all amputation levels, from wrist to shoulder disarticulation. It can also be used as an assistive device for spinal cord injury patients.

The Revolutionizing Prosthetics program continues to develop neural decode algorithms that translate electrical signals received from the body into commands for the limb systems or other devices. The MPL control and sensory feedback systems are designed to accommodate interfaces with varying degrees of invasiveness:

Non-invasive devices

• Conventional Input Devices (switches and transducers)
• Surface Electromyography (sEMG)
• Tactile sensory stimulator (Tactor)

Minimally invasive devices

• Implantable Myoelectric Sensor (IMES)

Moderately invasive devices

• Utah Slanted Electrode Array (USEA)

Highly invasive devices

• Epidural Electrocorticography Grid (ECoG)
• Floating Microelectrode Array (FMA)
• Utah Electrode Array (UEA)

Non-invasive control of the prototype limbs has been demonstrated repeatedly, and in September 2011, the MPL was controlled by a volunteer with tetraplegia via ECoG—the first-ever accomplishment of prosthetic arm control with this modality by an individual with a disability. This effort, conducted at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), will be followed by preclinical trials at UPMC and the California Institute of Technology seeking to achieve brain control by using advanced electrode arrays in five volunteers with spinal cord injuries.

Recommended Reading

Revolutionizing Prosthetics: Devices for Neural Integration (Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, Volume 30, Issue 3, pp. 230–239, 2011)