思想控制型輪椅以增強生物的感覺性”

Thought-controlled wheelchairs and bionics that 'feel'

17 February 2011 Last updated at 20:33 GMT

Source: By Neil Bowdler Science reporter, BBC News, Washington DC

Watch the prototype wheelchair in action

觀看原型輪椅的活動 (請至BBC 網站)

Thought-controlled wheelchairs and nerve-controlled prosthetic arms are some of the latest innovations in bionics being discussed at a science conference in Washington.

思想控制型輪椅和神經控制型義肢是華盛頓的科學會議近期正在討論的仿生學最新的一些創新。

The wheelchair can be directed by brain signals detected using a cap fitted to the user and is the work of scientists at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland (EPFL).

輪椅可以直接由安裝用戶者戴的一個大小合適的帽子以偵測大腦信號檢測指示，這是在瑞士的洛桑（洛桑聯邦理工學院）理工學院的科學家們所做的工作。

It is part of efforts to control machines directly via brain signals, which could lead to new devices for the paralysed and disabled.

一部分是藉著大腦信號來控制機器的結果，這可能為那些癱瘓和殘疾人士提供控制機器的新設備。

Nerve surgery

神經外科手術

The main focus of bionics to date has been on providing prosthetics for amputees. Prosthetic arms can now be controlled by nerve signals in the remaining arm, which can be picked up by electric sensors on the skin.

仿生學最新的主要重點是持續為被截肢者提供義肢。而義肢，現在可以在餘留的手臂通過神經信號的控制，透過皮膚的電動傳感器可以擷取。

Those with arms amputated above the elbow, where important nerves have been severed, can also potentially control such devices, thanks to what is called "Targeted Muscle Reinnervation" surgery (TMR).

那些截去雙臂肘關節以上者，其中重要的神經已被切斷，也可以潛在的控制諸如設備，這要感謝所謂的 “目標肌肉神經再支配術 "（TMR）。

The surgery involves repositioning of nerves into unused muscles around the remaining arm or shoulder so that clear signals can be generated to drive the prosthetic via sensors on the skin surface.

手術涉及到周圍剩餘的手臂或肩膀肌肉未使用的肌肉定位神經叢以使明確的信號能聚集，以生成通過對皮膚表面的傳感器驅動義肢。

Speaking at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington, Professor Todd Kuiken of The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, which pioneered TMR surgery, told the BBC the next innovation may be bionic limbs which are able to "feel".

（AAAS）在華盛頓科學促進協會年度會議上，芝加哥康復研究所率先運用TMR的手術的教授托德·庫伊肯，對BBC說，未來的創新可能是能夠使仿生肢體產生“感覺“。

"If you touch the person on this 'reinnervated' skin, they feel their missing hand. Normal hot and cold, they feel it in their missing hand," he said. "So this is an exciting pathway for us to give sensory feedback; imagine putting sensors in their prosthetic hand to measure force."

“如果你觸摸這個”神經再受支配的皮膚”上的人，他們能感覺他們消失的手。他們體覺他們消失的手正常熱和冷的感覺，“他說。“所以這是一個令我們感到興奮的途徑，給感官反饋;想像在他們的義肢放置傳感器以測試力量。”

Researchers are also looking to devise bionic limbs that can respond to multiple signals from the body - what is called "pattern recognition" - with some suggesting these could lead to bionic hands with individually controllable fingers.

研究人員也正在設計，仿生義肢可以從身體回饋應付多個信號 – 此被稱做“模式識別” - 一些建議這些可能導致仿生手能個別控制手指。

But there is also now the prospect of devices for paralysed or severely disabled individuals with the arrival of brain-controlled devices, of which the thought-controlled wheelchair is just one example.

但也有前景的設備癱瘓或嚴重殘疾的人與大腦控制設備的到來，其中的思想控制輪椅就是一個例子。

Professor Jose del R Millan and colleagues from EPFL, who have developed the wheelchair, brought with them to Washington a thought-controlled robot that a paralysed individual could control with brain signals.

Jose del R Millan 教授和他的同事從洛桑聯邦理工學院，開發此種輪椅，把這種可以思想控制的機器人帶到華盛頓，讓一個癱瘓的人可以控制大腦信號。

"It could help disabled people by substituting some of those lost motor capabilities," said Professor Millan. "People could be 'virtually elsewhere' because they can see what the robot sees."

Millan 教授說：它可以幫助那些失去機動能力的殘疾人士。“人們可能是”幾乎在別處“，因為他們可以看到機器人看到的。”

Elective amputation

選擇截肢

Such is the pace of progress with bionics that there are now patients choosing bionic limbs over real ones.

仿生學這樣的步伐，現在已讓患者有選擇以假亂真的仿生肢體。

Videos showing the Austrian man before and after his elective amputation

視頻顯示奧地利男子觸電截肢之前和之後的情形  (請至BBC 網站)

Last year, a young Austrian man named "Patrick", who sustained traumatic injuries after being electrocuted at work, opted for the elective amputation of his left hand, which no longer had any function. He has now been fitted with a prosthetic arm with which he can grasp and lift objects using nerve signals in his amputated arm.

去年，一個年輕的奧地利男子名為“帕特克(Patrick)”，這位正在工作時觸電遭受創傷後選擇鋸斷他的左手而不再有任何功能。他現在已經安裝了義肢，在他截肢手臂的神經信號使他能夠抓取和提取物件。

His surgeon, Professor Oskar Aszmann of the Medical University of Vienna, says the use of a hybrid bionic hand attached to his dysfunctional hand convinced him of the benefits of the amputation.

他的外科醫生，維也納醫學大學的 Oskar Aszmann 教授說，使用混合動力的仿生手連接到他的不正常的手，卻使他感受即使截肢仍有感覺的益處。

"By then he realised he'd probably be better off with a bionic hand rather than his own flesh and blood hand," Professor Aszmann told the BBC after a recent lecture at the Royal Society of Medicine in London.

“然後，他意識到他使用仿生手反而比他的親生肌肉手更好，”Aszmann教授告訴英國廣播公司最近的一次演講是在倫敦皇家醫學學會。

"For him the most important thing is not really the loss of his non-functional piece of anatomy but the gain of functionality. He could see after two hours that he could do tasks that he hadn't done for two or three years."

“對於他來說最重要的事情不是真的對他已無功能的部份解剖而是如何再去獲得功能性。兩個小時後，他可以做他兩年或三年來沒有完成的任務。”

Later this year, a second of Professor Aszmann's patients will undergo elective amputation in favour of a bionic replacement.

今年晚些時候，Aszmann教授第二位的患者將接受進行仿生義肢置換選擇的截肢。

參考資料:

2012-03-23 Aircafe Break (1)
2012-03-23 Aircafe Break (2)