Paralyzed Man Can 'Feel' Again with Brain-Connected Prosthetic Hand

DARPA Revolutionizing Prosthetics Program — DARPA's Revolutionizing Prosthetics program aims to develop technologies that can restore a near-natural sense of touch.

(Image credit: DARPA)

A prosthetic hand that is connected directly to the brain successfully enabled a paralyzed man to "feel" again, according to researchers at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The 28-year-old male, who suffered a spinal cord injury and has been paralyzed for more than a decade, was able to control a robotic hand with his brain and reported being able to sense physical sensations.

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Wires were run directly from the electrodes to the mechanical hand, which was developed by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. Using this connection, the man could control the robotic hand's movements using the same types of thoughts, or neural connections, that the brain uses to move a hand normally. In addition, because the prosthetic hand was connected to the sensory cortex, the patient could sense when the hand was being touched, even when he was blindfolded.

"Prosthetic limbs that can be controlled by thoughts are showing great promise," DARPA program manager Justin Sanchez said in a statement, "but without feedback from signals traveling back to the brain it can be difficult to achieve the level of control needed to perform precise movements. By wiring a sense of touch from a mechanical hand directly into the brain, this shows the potential for seamless bio-technological restoration of near-natural function."

DARPA has tested the program's first few dozen volunteers, who had neurological problems unrelated to memory loss, agency officials said. These volunteers had small electrode arrays placed in brain regions known to be involved in the formation of declarative memory, or simple memory used to recall lists, as well as in regions involved in spatial memory and navigation. These electrodes are giving scientists the ability to "read" the processes involved in memory formation and retrieval, and are even offering insights into when a volunteer is about to make an error in recall.

Elizabeth is a staff writer for Live Science. Her interests include the mechanics of weather phenomena, quirky animal behavior, natural disasters and recent developments in the world of genetic research. She has a Master of Arts degree from New York University’s Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting Program and has a bachelor’s degree in geology from Bryn Mawr College. Elizabeth has traveled all over the Western Hemisphere, where she’s touched a stingray, traversed the rim of a volcano and watched coral polyps feeding at night. Follow her on Twitter.