欢迎讨论仿生触觉传感与植入式神经刺激器
moomoofarm
人工海马体），但是诞生之后却花了很长时间才被广泛应用。下面的文章对两种技术表达了相同的观点。一个是仿生触觉传感（biomimetic
tactile sensing），另一个是植入式神经刺激器（injectable neurostimulator）。前者用来复制人类的触觉，让
机器人拥有触觉的同时或许可以治疗某些疾病。后者（是块芯片）除了可以刺激有神经损伤的肌肉，或许未来还可以直接植入鼠脑（人脑？）代替生物微电极。
从 DeviceTalk 作者：sherrie
I had the pleasure of hearing industry pioneer Gerald Loeb, MD, speak
last night about the future of prosthetics and robotics. He spoke at
Stuart Karten Design in Marina del Rey, CA. Loeb, who is a professor
of biomedical engineering at USC, is one of the original developers of
the cochlear implant.
“I have no patience with technology that isn’t well designed, and I’ve
seen a lot of medical technology that is badly designed,” he said. The
desire of designers to solve the big problems can get in the way of,
he said. Those problems—make the deaf hear, make the blind see, and
make the lame walk—are all loft goals. “Making the deaf hear—we’ve
done that. Making the blind see—that may or may not be feasible.
Making the lame walk? That may be the wrong goal,” he said.
What is possible, he said, is working with the upper extremities using
tiny injectable neurostimulators to activate weak and paralyzed
muscles. “We needed to get rid of the wires,”he said. The BIONs, which
Loeb invented, can create functional movement. To do this, he said,
you need to coordinate a feedback system and you need signal
processing. Applications include stroke patients, flexural
contractures, and osteoarthritis.
Loeb also talked about some exciting advances in biomimetic tactile
sensing, replicating the skin’s ability to feel in the fingers of
prosthetic hands. Using an array that consists of a rigid core
surrounded by a salt water, a sensor in the finger pad becomes part of
the transduction process.
Like the cochlear implant, Loeb said it may take years before people
really start to notice these breakthroughs, but one day I suspect that
a tactile sensing prosthetic will be the norm for patients who have
lost their arms.