In the eighth seminar of the 2022-23 academic year, Dr. Zhi Yang, PhD, Associate Professor, University of Minnesota will discuss his recent work in a talk entitled “Mind-Force Nerve Computer Interface”, focusing on improving control of prosthetic arms. Friday, May 12, 11:30 - 12:30.
Although prosthetic arms with independently actuated digits are now available in the market, there is a lack of high-performance human-machine interfaces (HMIs) that can effectively decode the complex motor intentions of the brain. Currently available HMIs only support sequential choices within a limited number of pre-programmed hand grasp patterns. This often results in unsatisfactory daily use of the prosthesis by amputees. In this talk, I will present the results of a pilot study involving upper limb amputees. Our proposed HMI captures weak neural signals from residual nerves in the amputated limb, and our advanced algorithms can decode complex human motor intentions with remarkable accuracy. Our HMI has been operational in the body environment for over a year, enabling amputees to precisely control a prosthetic hand with 15 degrees of freedom. These results demonstrate an unprecedented amount of information being decoded from the nerves and offer a promising conduit for connecting the brain to machines through peripheral neural pathways. In 2022, our work was granted an FDA Breakthrough Device designation, with the potential to significantly enhance the quality of life for amputees.
