The robot's biological brain is made up of cultured neurons which are placed onto a multi electrode array (MEA). The MEA is a dish with approximately 60 electrodes which pick up the electrical signals generated by the cells. This is then used to drive the movement of the robot. Every time the robot nears an object, signals are directed to stimulate the brain by means of the electrodes. In response, the brain's output is used to drive the wheels of the robot, left and right, so that it moves around in an attempt to avoid hitting objects. The robot has no additional control from a human or a computer, its sole means of control is from its own brain.

The researchers are now working towards getting the robot to learn by applying different signals as it moves into predefined positions. It is hoped that as the learning progresses, it will be possible to witness how memories manifest themselves in the brain when the robot revisits familiar territory.

Professor Kevin Warwick from the School of Systems Engineering, said: "This new research is tremendously exciting as firstly the biological brain controls its own moving robot body, and secondly it will enable us to investigate how the brain learns and memorises its experiences. This research will move our understanding forward of how brains work, and could have a profound effect on many areas of science and medicine."

Video from the New Scientist:

University of Reading press release: Robot with a Biological Brain: new research provides insights into how the brain works...

More at the New Scientist...

(hat tip: Drudge Report)

The Tensegrity foot is different. POPSCI explains:

Rifkin built something that combined the natural step of a bionic foot with the simplicity and low cost of a mechanical prosthetic. His jointed foot has a heel, a forefoot, a big toe—and no joint at the ankle. Instead, a novel midfoot joint, which connects the heel and forefoot, does the job of both the ankle and the arch. Like an ankle joint, it flexes up and down to give the wearer a more natural step. And, like a real midfoot joint, it creates a flexible arch in the middle of the foot. A spring and cable connect it to a second joint at the toe, to create extra push-off at the end of each step. Other tensioned steel cables serve as the tendons and ligaments that govern its range of motion—the user doesn’t control it, it simply responds to the pressure of walking. Because the front and back of the foot can move independently, it can react to uneven terrain.

With input from 11 amputee test users like Link, Rifkin is refining his fifth (and, he hopes, final) prototype, made primarily of magnesium for its strength and low weight. Early results indicate that the one-pound foot reduces the amount of energy required for each step because it uses the force absorbed by the spring and joints to help propel the foot forward. “It’s the equivalent of taking a 50-pound pack off your back,” he explains. That’s on par with the best bionic feet, without all the expensive motors and artificial intelligence."

Image: How the K3 Promoter Works: A flexible midfoot joint makes the prosthetic stable on uneven ground, and a spring-loaded toe provides push-off for each step.

More from POPSCI.COM

Company page:: Tensegrity Prosthetics

Unlike its predecessors, the new hand can close around objects, even those with irregular surfaces. A large contact surface and soft, passive form elements greatly reduce the gripping power required to hold onto such an object. The hand also feels softer, more elastic, and more natural than conventional hard prosthetic devices.

The flexible drives are located directly in the movable finger joints and operate on the biological principle of the spider leg - to flex the joints, elastic chambers are pumped up by miniature hydraulics. In this way, index finger, middle finger and thumb can be moved independently. The prosthetic hand gives the stump feedback, enabling the amputee to sense the strength of the grip

Press Release: A new prosthetic hand is being tested at the Orthopedic University Hospital in Heidelberg / Grip function almost like a natural hand

We'd like to welcome Rohit Joshi, a medical student at McMaster University in Canada, as an associate editor of Medgadget, this being his first post in the role.

What makes the femtosecond laser different from other lasers is its unique capacity to interact with its target without transferring heat to the area surrounding its mark. The intensity of the power gets the job done while the speed ensures heat does not spread. Results are clean cuts, strong welds and precision destruction of very small targets, such as cancer cells, with no injury to surrounding materials. Tzou hopes that the laser would essentially eliminate the need for harmful chemical therapy used in cancer treatments.

“If we have a way to use the lasers to kill cancer cells without even touching the surrounding healthy cells, that is a tremendous benefit to the patient,” Tzou said. “Basically, the patient leaves the clinic immediately after treatment with no side effects or damage. The high precision and high efficiency of the UUL allows for immediate results.”

Practical applications of this type of laser also include, but aren’t limited to, the ability to create super-clean channels in a silicon chip. [Ed note: we can think of more applications later...] That process can allow doctors to analyze blood one cell at a time as cells flow through the channel. The laser can be used in surgery to make more precise incisions that heal faster and cause less collateral tissue damage. In dentistry, the laser can treat tooth decay without harming the rest of the tooth structure.

Associate Professor Yuwen Zhang and Professor Jinn-Kuen Chen recently received a grant from the National Science Foundation to use the laser to “sinter” metal powders—turn them into a solid, yet porous, mass using heat but without massive liquefaction—a process which can help improve the bond between joint implants and bone.

“With the laser, we can melt a very thin strip around titanium micro- and nanoparticles and ultimately control the porosity of the bridge connecting the bone and the alloy,” Zhang said. “The procedure allows the particles to bond strongly, conforming to the two different surfaces.”

Press Release...

(hat tip: Gizmodo)

The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., has received a contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to complete development of a prosthetic arm that will be controlled, feel, look and perform like a natural limb. Funding will support Phase 2 of DARPA’s Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009 (RP 2009) program, an ambitious effort to provide the most advanced medical and rehabilitative technologies for military personnel injured in the line of duty.

In Phase 1, the APL-led RP 2009 team of approximately 30 organizations developed two prototypes. The first prototype, presented to DARPA less than a year after the project started, is a fully integrated prosthetic arm that can be controlled naturally, provide sensory feedback and allows for eight degrees of freedom – a level of control far beyond the current state of the art for prosthetic limbs. The Proto 1 limb system also includes a virtual environment used for patient training, clinical configuration, and to record limb movements and control signals during clinical investigations.

The second prototype, demonstrated at DARPA Tech 2007 last August, has 25 individual joints that approach the natural speed and range of motion of the human limb. These mechanical limb systems are complemented by a range of emerging neural integration strategies that promise to restore near-natural control and important sensory feedback capabilities.

Press releases: DARPA Gives APL-Led Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009 Team Green Light for Phase 2; APL to Lead Team Developing Revolutionary Prosthesis

UPDATE: It appears that we've got mixed up by all the ongoing bionic arms projects. Medgadget reader TroyTurner left the following important comment:

I would like to clarify some of the information in your article above as it appears that two great research efforts are being confused &/or intermingled. While your headline, accompanying photo, and first sentence are about the Deka "Luke Arm", the rest of the story is about the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (JHU-APL) device. Of course this also means that your headline isn't totally accurate. DARPA has awarded a phase II contract to JHU-APL, not Deka (though that is still being pursued.)

In 2004/5, The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) funded two distinctly separate prosthetic arm development projects.

One was called "Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2007", and was awarded to DEKA R&D (www.dekaresearch.com). The Deka effort, now being referred to as "The Luke Arm" (pictured in your post above), has been completed. The goal of this project was to build the very best prosthetic upper limb that could be built using currently available technology. It is possible that DARPA will fund a phase II for further work, though that has not yet happened.

The other award, "Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009", went to the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (JHU-APL). Managed by Stuart Harshbarger at JHU-APL, this international effort to develop an advanced neural controlled upper limb is well described in the news release from JHU-APL that you've included in your post above.

An important distinction between the two programs is that the APL effort includes the development of true neural control of the device, while the Deka "Luke Arm" is currently controlled using myoelectric controls, though Deka is working with other organizations to enable additional control methodologies.

Because of the goals & program names, this can be confusing even for folks who are close to the work. Great things coming out of these efforts: of course some amazing advances in prosthetics, but I also believe we're also going to see advances in many other area of biomed, robotics, etc. in years to come with roots embedded in these efforts.

Agreed. The search of our archives brings the following post from April 2007 about the JHU-APL integrated prosthetic arm project: Bionic Arm 2.0, Watch Out Dean Kaman. We appologize for the confusion.

In order to make a better arm, Kamen first had to figure out what was wrong with the old one. Part of the reason the technology was still in “the Flintstones” was a lack of agility: a human arm has 22 degrees of freedom, not three. The Luke Arm prosthetic is agile because of the fine motor control imparted by the enormous amount of circuitry inside the arm, which enables 18 degrees of freedom. The engineers fought for space inside the arm and created workarounds when they couldn’t have the space they needed, such as using rigid-to-flex circuit boards folded into origami-like shapes inside the tiny spaces, which are connected by a dense thicket of wiring.

The arm has motor control fine enough for test subjects to pluck chocolate-covered coffee beans one by one, pick up a power drill, unlock a door, and shake a hand. Six preconfigured grip settings make this possible, with names like chuck grip, key grip, and power grip. The different grips are shortcuts for the main operations humans perform daily.

The Luke arm also had to be modular, usable by anyone with any level of amputation. The arm works as though it had a very complicated set of vacuum cleaner attachments; the hand contains separate electronics, as does the forearm. The elbow is powered, and the electronics that power it are contained in the upper arm. The shoulder is also powered and can accomplish the never-before-seen feat of reaching up as if to pick an apple off a tree.

It must be less than what a native limb would have weighed, because in an amputee the human skeletal system can no longer be used as a method of attachment. Instead, for amputations above the elbow, a user is strapped into a kind of harness. Deka engineers modeled the arm based on the weight of a statistically average female arm (about 3.6 kg), including all the electronics and the lithium battery. Amazingly, titanium, the legendarily light material, is too heavy to keep the arm under its weight limit—it can’t be made thin enough without bending—so the arm is mostly aluminum.

More at IEEE Spectrum Online...

Flashbacks: Dean Kamen's DARPA Arm in the Lab, Dean Kamen and His Arm, Dean Kamen's Robotic Arm Part Deuce, Cyborg Arm: DARPA Recruits Dean Kaman, Dean Kamen Talks Medgadgets

(hat tip: Engadget)

Now, he's starting to walk again with the help of prosthetic legs outfitted with Bluetooth technology more commonly associated with hands-free cell phones.

"They're the latest and greatest," Bleill said, referring to his groundbreaking artificial legs.

Bleill, 30, is one of two Iraq war veterans, both double leg amputees, to use the Bluetooth prosthetics. Computer chips in each leg send signals to motors in the artificial joints so the knees and ankles move in a coordinated fashion.

Bleill's set of prosthetics have Bluetooth receivers strapped to the ankle area. The Bluetooth device on each leg tells the other leg what it's doing, how it's moving, whether walking, standing or climbing steps, for example.

"They mimic each other, so for stride length, for amount of force coming up, going uphill, downhill and such, they can vary speed and then to stop them again," Bleill told CNN from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he's undergoing rehab.

"I will put resistance with my own thigh muscles to slow them down, so I can stop walking, which is always nice."

CNN Video...

Ossur Bionic Technologies...

(hat tip: /.)

Flashbacks: The Power Knee, Adaptive Prosthetics, Rheo-Knee: Walk Your Way, Proprio Foot™...

From the Times...

The Jaipur foot, which has never been patented, is available in more than 25 countries, most of them poor, many of them with great numbers of land-mine victims. Unlike many high-priced prostheses in developed countries, it can be made by traditional craftsmen, lasts more than five years and costs about $30, making it affordable for mass distribution...

Dr. Sethi came up with his invention after years of extensive research. He was helped by Ramachandra Sharma, a semiliterate craftsman who had been teaching lepers to make handicrafts and who became his assistant.

The two made a foot of vulcanized rubber but found it too heavy and stiff. So they filled the shell with sponge rubber and modified the design. They used a stiff piece for the metatarsals and added microcellular rubber for the heel, cutting wedges at its upper end to make a universal joint.

Since 1971, when Dr. Sethi presented the foot to British orthopedic surgeons at Oxford, the Jaipur foot has revolutionized lives in war-torn countries. It is very flexible, allowing the wearer to run, climb trees or pedal bicycles. It is well suited to the needs of many Asian countries in which most people sit, eat, sleep and pray on the floor. Using the Jaipur foot, a Bollywood actor and dancer, Sudha Chandra, was even able to perform a demanding dance sequence in the movie musical "Nache Mayuri."

Technology notes from JaipurFoot.org:

1) The limbs made with this technology are closest to a normal human limb. The Jaipur Foot has virtually got the same range of movements which a normal human foot has. It has dorsi-flexion, inversion, eversion, supination, pronation and axial rotation allowing a amputee not only to walk comfortably, but also squat (sitting on hunches), kneeling, crouching, sitting cross legged, walking also on undulated terrain, running, climbing a tree and driving an automobile. In other words, it is an all-functional, all-terrain limb. The other limbs with SACH foot cannot have these flexions and functions. There are some Multi Axial Feet but these allow specific limited flexions and functions.

2) Jaipur Foot is cosmetically also closest to the human foot with toes etc. Once Jaipur Foot was developed many other companies in the world added these cosmetic feature to their limb products to look like normal Foot or Jaipur Foot.

3) Jaipur Foot is water proof as many other artificial limbs in the world are.

4) Jaipur Foot is a dual purpose foot. It may be worn with shoes or without shoes depending on the desire and the need of the patients. This feature is crucial for meeting the cultural needs of many regions of the world. For example most of the modern limbs can be used only with the shoes on with the result that such amputees cannot enter the temples, mosques etc and cannot pray or perform NAMAZ.

5) The normal life of Jaipur Foot piece is around 3 years.

Read on at NYT...

Design...

Core77 Design Blog...

The new artificial skin will incorporate many more sensors and will cover the metallic prosthesis, leading to a more natural-looking bionic arm. The skin-a rubbery polymer called polyimide that has been infused with tiny carbon nanotubes-is flexible, stretchable, lightweight, and tough. Initially designed for airplane pressure sensors, the polymer is durable, resistant to high temperatures, and piezoelectric. That is, it generates electricity in response to pressure or force, so you can measure pressure applied to its surface, says NIA's [National Institute of Aerospace's] Cheol Park, who is leading the pressure-sensor development. Carbon nanotubes enhance the piezoelectricity of the polyimide and make the polymer stronger, he says.

Temperature sensors will be embedded under the polyimide layer. The trick is to transfer heat as quickly as possible from the polymer surface to the sensors. Again, carbon nanotubes, which conduct heat along their length unusually well, will play a key role. Researchers at ORNL are trying to make nanotube-embedded polymers that conduct heat as well as human tissue does, says Ilia Ivanov, a nanomaterials researcher at ORNL. They will impregnate the polymer with an array of vertically aligned nanotubes, which will transfer heat from the skin surface to the temperature sensors underneath. Ivanov says the heat transfer should be fast. In 2006, researchers showed that a heat pulse travels 20 times as fast in a polymer containing the nanotube arrays than in the pure polymer.

More in Wired...

"The i-Limb system is better than a human arm. It is faster and can lift heavier weights than a human arm. It also looks good, has smooth movement, and operates with less noise than existing prosthetic arms. The technology is new and evolving.

"However, we might have to scale the power down to make it suitable for everyone. With something that has a better than human performance, our challenge is ethical.

"A patient would have the potential to hurt themselves or other people with it as it is actually better than a human arm. It could do damage.

"We have got to take safety very seriously. You have to attach it to the patient's body and that could cause damage if the weight is too heavy. It could snap their ribs. And it could be pretty scary flapping about."

Read more at the Scotsman...

Touch Bionics...

Flashbacks: Video of i-LIMB Hand; World's First Bionic Hand Makes It to Market

(hat tip: Engadget)