ROBOTS WITH A HUMAN TOUCH

Restoring movement and the sensations of everyday life

https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/features/robots-with-a-human-touch

By Gary Tippet, University of Melbourne

Touch may be the least appreciated of the five senses. But without it how
can one know the smoothness of a loved ones skin, the silky, softness of
a babys hair, the rasp of a mans whiskers or the warmth of a cheek?

More practically, how do you measure the texture, heft and solidity of an
object; perceive strength, resistance or pressure; or gauge the difference
between dull and sharp?

Anyone who has lost the use of an arm through amputation, stroke or
paralysis, has had not just movement and control, but also those vital,
tangible human sensations stolen away.

Prosthetic limbs, once awkward, uncomfortable and limited in function,

have come a long way, particularly with the advent of 3D printing. They
can easily be custom fitted and even purpose built for various sports, as
the recent Rio Paralympics have shown. Many of the most expensive
models can be programmed to perform a remarkably wide range of
movements.
But none have been able to restore the sense of touch.

Figure 1: Associate Professor Denny Oetomo testing a prosthetic arm.

Picture: David Caird/Herald Sun

Yet some dare to dream. And turn dream into reality. Researchers from the
University of Melbourne, in collaboration with the University of
Wollongong and St Vincents Hospitals Aikenhead Centre for Medical
Discovery, are developing a robotic arm that could help return not only
full movement but, one day, sensation.
They are working on a prototype that will use 3D printed microchips to
read the electrical signals in the brain and pass movement messages via
nerves and muscles to the robotic arm and ultimately, they hope, to
send signals in the other direction, adding a sensory element, so that it
can feel sensations such as strength and pressure.
In essence, says the University of Melbournes Professor Peter Choong,
the robotic arm will be a mechanical device that responds to electrical
signals from the brain and these electrical signals are thoughts. It
literally will turn thoughts into actions: We imagine the move and it
happens.

But what we also want is for the machine to talk back to the brain, he
says. Thats the dream.

But not a pipe dream, says the man who describes rebuilding an
amputated limb as his Everest. The pathways are already there in the
form of nerves, like a telephone line. What were asking our scientists to
do is to find ways of connecting the disconnected, loose ends to who
youre trying to call, the muscle or the machine, and program it to
respond, says Professor Choong.

Theres no reason why it cant be a two-way conversation, he says.

Under normal circumstances the single nerve works both ways, as in that
telephone line I speak and you hear my words; thats called action and
sensation.

One of the diverse, multi-disciplinary team that has come together to

make that and more happen is University of Melbourne robotics
engineer Denny Oetomo, who shares Professor Choongs long, perhaps
romantic view. His team is building what the project description calls a
dexterous robotic hand neuroprosthesis, but Associate Professor
Oetomo says: I dont want a tool. I want a limb.

A number of prostheses now available costing as much as $100,000,

and usually provided through insurance provide a range of actions,
controlled by devices like smartphones. But they are fiddly and hard to
operate and many end up on eBay, traded in for simpler models, says
Associate Professor Oetomo.