How artificial intelligence can improve limb prostheses

Thanks to the achievements of modern science,humanity has been able to improve many things. Say, if you look at photographs of the very first limb prostheses invented and modern prostheses, you will notice a huge difference. Full-fledged prostheses are becoming more and more functional, but they still lack precision, adjusting the strength of interaction with objects, and so on. And then artificial intelligence can come to the rescue.

Artificial intelligence helps us not only with complex calculations, but also improves the quality of life

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To understand the essence of the problem of moderndentures, imagine a person with an arm amputated below the elbow operating a smart prosthesis. Sensors of such devices are attached to the remnants of muscles and tendons, as if "continuing" the arm. Therefore, a person can control its movement in much the same way as with an ordinary hand. And this man was able to grab the item on the table. But what will happen next? Many of the muscles and tendons that controlled the fingers disappeared, and with them the ability to accurately sense the weight and texture of the subject. All this allows us to interact with objects without even thinking about the mass of parameters. Using a prosthesis (even a very advanced one) is almost impossible.

It was on this that the Swiss concentratedResearchers at the Lausanne Federal Polytechnic School (EPFL). In order not to miss such news, as well as a host of other unique materials, subscribe to our page in Yandex.Zen. Experts created a machine learning system that collected data on muscle signals during various movements and captures of real people with real limbs. Thanks to the information received, the AI ​​began to understand what type of object capture he needed to apply in each case. In addition, the system also provides protection against falling, allowing you to change the grip about half a second before the subject begins to fall.

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As a result, the object, according to scientists,it is captured “firmly, but carelessly enough” so as not to damage or drop it. In this case, the force is calculated for each user individually. At this stage, all this is still at the experimental level, and engineers used an external prosthesis in their work, rather than a device specially developed for these needs. Nevertheless, now such an approach makes it possible to evaluate the method of “joint control” of artificial intelligence and man over movement, which may become the basis for the development of the next generation of intellectual prostheses.

The system responds pretty well to commands coming from the muscles

Now scientists plan to refine the technologyAI works by collecting even more additional data. In the future, one should not exclude the possibility of prostheses of other parts of the body, such as legs, isolated prostheses of the hands, and even individual fingers. Moreover, the technology is quite easily applicable: on the one hand, it can be used to create prostheses from scratch, and on the other, it can be integrated into existing systems, which is quite convenient.