US Marine Receives First-Ever Prosthetic Arm Controlled by Implantable Sensors
From: Medical Design Technology - 03/28/2014
By: Mike Schmidt

Curiosity got the best of US Marine Staff Sgt. James Sides. When approached
with the opportunity to serve as the first test recipient of a new,
innovative, and potentially beneficial implantable myoelectric sensor (IMES)
system for long-term use of prosthetics, Sides knew it was a chance not to be
missed. 

As a test subject, Sides was told the system would allow him to intuitively
operate three different prosthetic movements simultaneously: opening and
closing his hand, rotating his wrist, and moving his thumb. More importantly,
these three key movements would combine to allow SSgt. Sides to have better
control over his prosthetic than he would get from more commonly-used
body-powered prosthetics or motorized prosthetics. The IMES system was also
designed to address many of the shortcomings of current myoelectric control
systems. In some respects, their function is limited because muscle signals
are detected by electrodes placed on the surface of the skin – sweat,
movement between the electrode and the skin, and limited access to only large
muscles close to the surface of the skin. These limitations make control
non-intuitive, inconsistent, and unreliable. Not so with the IMES system and
its ability to allow Sides to operate three prosthetic movements at the same
time.

The IMES system works by utilizing electro-chemical signals in the body that
occur when a muscle contracts. Tiny IMES implants about 16 millimeters long
and two millimeters wide are surgically placed into the residual muscles in
the patient's amputated limb. They serve to detect movements in portions of
the limb that no longer exist. The electro-chemical signals are then captured
and wirelessly transmitted from the implants to a decoder box designed to
serve as an electronic “brain.” The IMES system also connects the brain to
the artificial limb, allowing brain signals to control the prosthesis.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.mdtmag.com/articles/2014/03/us-marine-receives-first-ever-prosthetic-arm-controlled-implantable-sensors

Links:
A Marine with a Prosthetic Hand Controlled by His Own Muscles (with videos 2:05 & 1:37)
http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/video-marine-prosthetic-hand-controlled-his-own-muscles

Alfred Mann Foundation for Scientific Research
http://aemf.org/our-research/