Psych Notes

Intro
Put your hand up if youre doing chemistry or physics? How about if
youre interested in neuroscience or engineering? Awesome! Well
perhaps you will be involved in the wonderful world of neural
engineering in the future.
How do we define it?
It is an interdisciplinary research area (under biomedical
engineering in most universities) that combines neuroscience,
neurology, engineering, physics, chemistry, psychiatry, cell biology
and genetics to analyze neurological function and design solutions
to problems associated with neurological limitations and
dysfunction(Durand, 2006).
- Basically neural engineering draws together all these areas of
science to increase our understanding of the human nervous
system and the brain. By doing so, these we can develop new
technologies that can improve the lives of people with
neurological-related illnesses.
Neural engineering covers a wide scope of research areas but today
I will be focus on the world of bionics and how it will influence
humans in the future. Let me introduce you to Humans v 2.0.
Does anyone remember watching the Teen Titans? The character of
Cyborg is half human and half machine and could be classified as a
bionic man. Luke Skywalker in this picture is receiving a robotic
hand. In fact this particular scene in the Star Wars fifth movie 30
years ago actually kick started a lot of the research being conducted
on bionics today.
The word Bionics you can probably see comes from the word bio
meaning and onic from electronic. Combining living things and
electronics. Its about studying mechanical systems that function as
parts of living organisms and integrating these systems into the
human body to repair or assist the functions of certain body parts.
Research into bionics has led to the bionic arm, eye
Bionic Arm
Firstly, Ill talk about the bionic arm. A bionic arm is a myoelectric
prosthetic. The ideal prosthetic arm would both look like a natural
limb and replace its function. However, most prosthetics have to
sacrifice one purpose for the other. For example there are cosmetic
limbs, which dont move, and just look like a normal arm. And then
there is body-powered functional prosthetics, which are very
mechanical looking and operate using cables and harnesses. Each

arm can perform only a few functions and its very tiring to use over
a long period. A myoelectric prosthetic tries to be the best of both
worlds looks natural but is functional. They are externally
powered by a battery and an electronic motors so it wont be tiring
for the user.
How does it work?
An amputee can still use muscles in the part of their limb that is left
over. The sensors in the prosthetic socket will detect electrical
signals when the person contracts these muscles (mental stimulus).
The sensors transfer the info from the electrical signals to the
controller translates info into commands for the electric motor to
move the prosthetic arm. Can control the strength and speed of
movements by varying muscle intensity. If the nerves in the arm are
damaged, you can use the muscles in the chest or black.
However only a single motion of the prosthetic arm can be
controlled at a time can only move things one at a time. E.g.
make the muscle contract and it will move the elbow, make the
muscle contract again and it will move the fingers. Disadvantage
because it will feel quite slow and awkward. We dont really think
about it but most of our hand movements require simultaneous
movements. For instance we wanted to scoop up some dirt we
would bend our elbow and curl our fingers at the same time. But
using a myoelectric arm we would need to move one muscle that
would bend the elbow, then move that muscle again to close the
finger. So every movement is done one at a time.
Other issues include its heavy weight, cost, arm does not provide
sensory feedback.
Currently the most advanced bionic arm is the DEKA Luke arm. It
was recently approved by the FDA and will be available on the
market soon. Arm was invented by DEKA research and development
corporation led by Dean Karmen (inventor of Segway), who was
inspired by the this Star Wars scene (why its called the Luke arm).
Whats really exciting about this arm is that unlike previous
myoelectric arms it can perform multiple simultaneous movements
for more complex and delicate tasks. Some other advantages of this
arm are it is a similar size and weight to a natural limb, from the
video you can see it has a very natural movement to it and can be
configured for people with limb loss from the shoulder joint mid
upper or mid lower arm. Not for elbow or wrist.
In a study conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs (US)
90% of the 36 participants fitted with DEKA arms could do things
they couldnt do with previous prosthetics such as using locks and
keys, preparing food, brushing hair or in the video Im going to
show, moving eggs from one carton to the next.

Although this was a very simple task what are some of the things
the neural engineers at DEKA had to consider when designing the
arm to this task?
- grip DEKA arm has 6 different grips
- how can you control multiple joints at the same time?
- Strength of grip not to weak, not too strong vibration feed
back so he knows how tightly hes holding the egg.
- Practicality you dont want the machine to be too bulky
As I mentioned, this is more advanced than its predecessors
because you can move multiple parts at the same time. This
breakthrough in prosthetic development thanks to something called
Targeted Reinnervation.
- The Rehabilitation institute of Chicago works alongside DEKA
to provide this technology
-

amputated nerves from the residual limb are transferred to

muscles that cannot function anymore because they are no
longer attached to the missing arm chest or back muscles.
The nerves grow into or reinnervate the muscles to provide
additional control signals that the prosthetic arm can respond
to = control multiple joints of the prosthesis at the same time.
Targeted reinnervation has the potential to give a sense of
touch to the prosthetic arm. skin near the amputated part is
innervated with the nerves from the hand, allowing the to
feel with the prosthetic hand.

What is the future for bionic hands?

- Next step is to give prosthetic hands real-time touch
sensations
- want the hand to detect and measure information about the
object they are touching
- prosthetic hand needs to provide sensory feedback
- A case study by Silvestro Micera et al. researching this
technology was recently published
- 0:25 1:11
- Keep in mind that this was a case study conducted on one
person more research needs to be done before this
technology is commercialized
Bionic Eye
-

University of Melbourne, Bionics Vision Australia and other

institutes are developing a bionic eye that can aid people with
retinitis pigmentosa (degenerative eye disease that can lead
to vision impairment and blindness) and age-related macular
degeneration
To know how a bionic eye works you need to know how the
normal eye functions

Light enters the eye through the cornea and comes into focus
on the retina filmy tissue made of cells. It contains light
receptors that convert light into electrical impulses that are
transmitted along the optic nerve to the brain to analyse the
information and create a picture of what you see.

When someone has retina pigmentosa or macular

degeneration some cells in the retina become diseased and
cannot function properly. However the optic nerve and some
vital cells in the retina can still function properly.

Bionic eye works by installing a computer chip with electrodes

in the back of the eye linked to a mini video camera attached
to a pair of glasses. The camera transmits high-frequency
radio signals to the chip. Chip converts signals into electrical
impulses to stimulate cells in the retina that are connected to
the optic nerve. And then the signals are passed down to the
brain where they are perceived as vision.

What will they see?

It takes a few months to adapt to the retina implant and people with
a bionic eye will not have perfect vision. The camera transmits
pixelated images so people can only see a rough outline of object
A clinical study conducted by Lyndon da Cruz et al. (2013) on a
bionic eye called the Argus 2. 28 subjects with retinitis pigmentosa
were fitted with the Argus 2 were given letters and words of
different sizes and asked to identify them. The smallest letters that
could be identified were 0.9cm in size.
Current research into the bionic eye is focused on making the vision
it produces clearer. Researchers are experimenting with adding
more electrodes and using a higher voltage so that the brightness,
size, shape and colour of an object is perceived better. Also they
are researching on safe removal of the implant incase there are
problems or if a new and better device becomes available and the
person wants an upgrade. They are also investigating the safest and
most efficient surgical procedures used to attach the implant.
Ethics
Even though bionics are a great new technology there are some
ethical considerations we have to keep in mind. Here are some
stimulus pictures to get you thinking about some of the ethical
issues involved. If you would like to turn to the person next to you or
have a think for yourself about what you think some of the ethical
issues of bionics are. Ill give you a minute and then I would really
like to hear back from you.
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Discrimination against people with disabilities

Should we commercialize it? Unequal access the rich

provide their children with costly enhancements.
Enhance memory giving you an advantage in tests for those
who can afford it should this be allowed?
People with artificial limbs can have an advantage stronger,
muscles dont tire what does this mean for the Paralympics
Advertising 14 yr old boy and Mercedes
Who is responsible if a thought-controlled limb causes harm?
How far should this technology go? Half human-half robot?
Can someone control us using a computer.
Arms race for bionics