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- RE: Intelligent neuro-prosthetics – don´t count your chickens before they are hatched
In the last few years groundbreaking medical technology approaches have been reported to help patients who are not able to control or use their limbs or have lost one of their limbs (1–5). Are these approaches, which are often only feasible in an expensive experimental setting, desired? What are the needs, wishes and possibilities of amputees and spinal cord injured individuals? How can we transform high-tech approaches to low-tech solutions? Where are the simple and affordable solutions applicable for all people around the world?
The world’s fascination with intelligent neuro-prosthetics continues unabated. But, to proceed, we must learn to ask the patients even closer.References
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1. J. S. Hebert et al. Novel targeted sensory reinnervation technique to restore functional hand sensation after transhumeral amputation. IEEE Trans. Neural. Syst. Rehabil. Eng. 22, 765–773 (2014).
2. C. E. Bouton et al. Restoring cortical control of functional movement in a human with quadriplegia. Nature 533, 247-250 (2016).
3. S. N. Flesher et al. Intracortical microstimulation of human somatosensory cortex. Sci. Transl. Med. 8, 361ra141 (2016).
4. S. R. Soekadar et al. Hybrid EEG/EOG-based brain/neural hand exoskeleton restores fully independent daily living activities after quadriplegia. Sci. Robot. 1, eaag3296 (2016).
5. P. D. Marasco et al. Illusory movement perception improves motor control for prosthetic hands. Sci. Transl. Med. 10, eaao6990 (...Competing Interests: None declared.
