We posted
last year on the first steps and now we are seeing serious progress here. This is great news and informs us that we are
perhaps a simple upgrade from having a highly useful protocol. It may not work to emulate automatic actions
such as walking but can allow a fair bit of hand and tool operation.
Just recovering
function to allow typing would be a revolution and solve all sorts of issues.
What is
important is that we are moving ahead and we can expect protocols soon that can
immediately help the newly injured before their muscles have atrophied.
Woman With Quadriplegia Feeds Herself Chocolate Using Mind-Controlled
Robot Arm
Jan Scheuermann, who has
quadriplegia, brings a chocolate bar to her mouth using a robot arm she is
guiding with her thoughts. Researcher Elke Brown, M.D., watches in the
background. Click the photo to download it in high resolution.
Dec. 17, 2012 — Reaching out to
"high five" someone, grasping and moving objects of different shapes
and sizes, feeding herself dark chocolate. For Jan Scheuermann and a team of
researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC,
accomplishing these seemingly ordinary tasks demonstrated for the first time
that a person with longstanding quadriplegia can maneuver a mind-controlled,
human-like robot arm in seven dimensions (7D) to consistently perform many of
the natural and complex motions of everyday life.
In a study published in
the online version of The Lancet,
the researchers described the brain-computer interface (BCI) technology and
training programs that allowed Ms. Scheuermann, 53, of Whitehall Borough in
Pittsburgh, Pa. to intentionally move an arm, turn and bend a wrist, and close
a hand for the first time in nine years.
Less than a year after
she told the research team, "I'm going to feed myself chocolate before
this is over," Ms. Scheuermann savored its taste and announced as they
applauded her feat, "One small nibble for a woman, one giant bite for
BCI."
"This is a
spectacular leap toward greater function and independence for people who are
unable to move their own arms," agreed senior investigator Andrew B.
Schwartz, Ph.D., professor, Department of Neurobiology, Pitt School of
Medicine. "This technology, which interprets brain signals to guide a
robot arm, has enormous potential that we are continuing to explore. Our study
has shown us that it is technically feasible to restore ability; the
participants have told us that BCI gives them hope for the future."
In 1996, Ms. Scheuermann
was a 36-year-old mother of two young children, running a successful business
planning parties with murder-mystery themes and living in California when one
day she noticed her legs seemed to drag behind her. Within two years, her legs
and arms progressively weakened to the point that she required a wheelchair, as
well as an attendant to assist her with dressing, eating, bathing and other
day-to-day activities. After returning home to Pittsburgh in 1998 for support
from her extended family, she was diagnosed with spinocerebellar degeneration,
in which the connections between the brain and muscles slowly, and
inexplicably, deteriorate.
"Now I can't move
my arms and legs at all. I can't even shrug my shoulders," she said.
"But I have come to the conclusion that worrying about something is
experiencing it twice. I try to dwell on the good things that I have."
A friend pointed out an
October 2011 video about another Pitt/UPMC BCI research study in which Tim
Hemmes, a Butler, Pa., man who sustained a spinal cord injury that left him
with quadriplegia, moved objects on a computer screen and ultimately reached
out with a robot arm to touch his girlfriend.
"Wow, it's so neat that
he can do that," Ms. Scheuermann thought as she watched him. "I wish
I could do something like that." She had her attendant call the trial
coordinator immediately, and said, "I'm a quadriplegic. Hook me up, sign
me up! I want to do that!"
On Feb. 10, 2012, after
screening tests to confirm that she was eligible for the study, co-investigator
and UPMC neurosurgeon Elizabeth Tyler-Kabara, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor,
Department of Neurological Surgery, Pitt School of Medicine, placed two
quarter-inch square electrode grids with 96 tiny contact points each in the
regions of Ms. Scheuermann's brain that would normally control right arm and
hand movement.
"Prior to surgery,
we conducted functional imaging tests of the brain to determine exactly where
to put the two grids," she said. "Then we used imaging technology in
the operating room to guide placement of the grids, which have points that
penetrate the brain's surface by about one-sixteenth of an inch."
The electrode points
pick up signals from individual neurons and computer algorithms are used to
identify the firing patterns associated with particular observed or imagined
movements, such as raising or lowering the arm, or turning the wrist, explained
lead investigator Jennifer Collinger, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R), and research scientist for the
VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System. That intent to move is then translated into
actual movement of the robot arm, which was developed by Johns Hopkins University's
Applied Physics Lab.
Two days after the
operation, the team hooked up the two terminals that protrude from Ms.
Scheuermann's skull to the computer. "We could actually see the neurons
fire on the computer screen when she thought about closing her hand," Dr.
Collinger said. "When she stopped, they stopped firing. So we thought,
'This is really going to work.'"
Within a week, Ms.
Scheuermann could reach in and out, left and right, and up and down with the
arm, which she named Hector, giving her 3-dimensional control that had her
high-fiving with the researchers. "What we did in the first week they
thought we'd be stuck on for a month," she noted.
Before three months had
passed, she also could flex the wrist back and forth, move it from side to side
and rotate it clockwise and counter-clockwise, as well as grip objects, adding
up to what scientists call 7D control. In a study task called the Action
Research Arm Test, Ms. Scheuermann guided the arm from a position four inches
above a table to pick up blocks and tubes of different sizes, a ball and a
stone and put them down on a nearby tray. She also picked up cones from one
base to restack them on another a foot away, another task requiring grasping,
transporting and positioning of objects with precision.
"Our findings
indicate that by a variety of measures, she was able to improve her performance
consistently over many days," Dr. Schwartz explained. "The training
methods and algorithms that we used in monkey models of this technology also worked
for Jan, suggesting that it's possible for people with long-term paralysis to
recover natural, intuitive command signals to orient a prosthetic hand and arm
to allow meaningful interaction with the environment."
In a separate study,
researchers also continue to study BCI technology that uses an
electrocortigraphy (ECoG) grid, which sits on the surface of the brain rather
than slightly penetrates the tissue as in the case of the grids used for Ms.
Scheuermann.
In both studies,
"we're recording electrical activity in the brain, and the goal is to try
to decode what that activity means and then use that code to control an
arm," said senior investigator Michael Boninger, M.D., professor and
chair, PM&R, and director of UPMC Rehabilitation Institute. "We are
learning so much about how the brain controls motor activity, thanks to the
hard work and dedication of our trial participants. Perhaps in five to 10
years, we will have a device that can be used in the day-to-day lives of people
who are not able to use their own arms."
The next step for BCI
technology will likely use a two-way electrode system that can not only capture
the intention to move, but in addition, will stimulate the brain to generate
sensation, potentially allowing a user to adjust grip strength to firmly grasp
a doorknob or gently cradle an egg.
After that, "we're
hoping this can become a fully implanted, wireless system that people can
actually use in their homes without our supervision," Dr. Collinger said.
"It might even be possible to combine brain control with a device that
directly stimulates muscles to restore movement of the individual's own
limb."
For now, Ms. Scheuermann
is expected to continue to put the BCI technology through its paces for two
more months, and then the implants will be removed in another operation.
"This is the ride
of my life," she said. "This is the rollercoaster. This is skydiving.
It's just fabulous, and I'm enjoying every second of it."
In addition to Drs.
Collinger, Tyler-Kabara, Boninger and Schwartz, study co-authors include Brian
Wodlinger, Ph.D., John E. Downey, Wei Wang, Ph.D., and Doug Weber, Ph.D., all
of PM&R; and Angus J. McMorland, Ph.D., and Meel Velliste, Ph.D., of the
Department of Neurobiology, Pitt School of Medicine.
The BCI projects are
funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, National Institutes of
Health grant 8KL2TR000146-07, the U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs, the
UPMC Rehabilitation Institute and the University of Pittsburgh Clinical and
Translational Science Institute.
No comments:
Post a Comment