'Touch' Feedback to Direct Movement
From: ECN - 10/26/2016

In the quest to restore movement to people with spinal cord injuries,
researchers have focused on getting brain signals to disconnected nerves and
muscles that no longer receive messages that would spur them to move.

But grasping a cup or brushing hair or cooking a meal requires other feedback
that has been lost in amputees and individuals with paralysis - a sense of
touch. The brain needs information from a fingertip or limb or external
device to understand how firmly a person is gripping or how much pressure is
needed to perform everyday tasks.

Now, University of Washington researchers at the National Science Foundation
Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE) have used direct
stimulation of the human brain surface to provide basic sensory feedback
through artificial electrical signals, enabling a patient to control movement
while performing a simple task: opening and closing his hand.

Read the entire article at:
https://www.ecnmag.com/news/2016/10/first-time-brain-surface-stimulation-provides-touch-feedback-direct-movement

Links:
National Science Foundation Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering
http://csne-erc.org

For the first time, brain surface stimulation provides 'touch' feedback to
  direct movement
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-10/uow-ftf102616.php
https://www.mdtmag.com/news/2016/10/first-time-brain-surface-stimulation-provides-touch-feedback-direct-movement

Helping the body heal, feel and move again
https://www.washington.edu/boundless/inclusive-engineering