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 objectA 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.

EthicsEven 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.

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