Optimizing muscle control for neural prosthetics

old_uid14400
titleOptimizing muscle control for neural prosthetics
start_date2014/10/01
schedule14h
onlineno
summaryThe Revolutionizing Prosthetics program coordinated by the Defense Advances Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has dramatically boosted the development of actuated upper-limb prostheses, and recent surgical technique that transfers residual nerves to alternative muscle sites has increased the number of muscle signals available to control these devices. What is critically needed now is to develop efficient control strategies linking the two. The goal of my research is to enable this by revealing the key mechanisms by which our hierarchical sensorimotor system normally coordinates muscles. In particular, the aim is to establish how the nervous system learns new patterns of muscle activity, how the original sensorimotor mapping is critical and can be restored, and how amputee could benefit from control schemes integrating subsidiary muscles from the trunk and other limbs.
responsiblesFenouil