The Possibilities of Next-Generation Prosthetics That Provide A Natural Feel And Function

Introduction?

In recent years, there have been advances in prosthetics that have helped many people with limb loss to lead near normal lives. However, not all of these technologies are implemented in today’s prosthetics, and as a result, the currently used prosthetics do not offer an authentic sense and feel.?

Some of the common complaints involve pain, stiffness, and an almost feeling of alienation from their artificial limbs.?

Looking to the future, it becomes a question of advancing prosthetics that can address these gaps in a highly integrated manner that allows the prosthesis to form an extension of the user.?

Propelling this technology forward is relevant not only for increasing practical applicability of people’s lives but also for the improvement of people’s well-being and confidence.?

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Understanding the Human Body?

When developing superior terminus prostheses, one has to pay attention to the phenomenon that exists between human beings’ structures and functions.?

The human body is composed of muscles, bones, nerves, and sensory receptors which collectively form the mechanism to facilitate movements, as well as balance.?

Proprioception is one aspect of this system whereby the body is able to detect its position, as well as the movement of its parts in space. It enables people to accomplish such intricate operations as typing on the keyboard, or walking across the field with large stones without realizing each step.?

Non Somatosensory feedback refers to feedback modalities that are important in natural movement, giving the brain real time information on position of the limbs, amount of pressure exerted on muscles, and other parts of the body.?

Such feedback enables immediate correction and improvement of the body’s posture, thereby promoting good body stability, coordination, and flexibility.?

Previously, in designing prosthetics, this feedback is essential to mimic to make the prosthetics work as close as possible to a natural limb.?

Cyborg technologies that replicate the body sensors and nerves allow the enhancement of prosthetics, and pave the way to prosthetics that will easily and functionally imitate the users desires.?

For more detailed information on human anatomy and proprioception, you can visit [Mayo Clinic](https://www.mayoclinic.org/).?

Current Prosthetic Technology?

Modern prosthetics have advanced a lot and include functional techniques. It also have different materials and shapes for the better usage of the equipment.?

Conventional prosthesis as nowadays are produced from aluminum alloy, stainless steel, and plastics, and their main parameters are strength and weight.?

Current models use more lightweight materials, such as carbon fiber making them mobile assets and less likely to stress the users.?

Prosthetics can also be equipped with mechanical or myoelectric controls, which enhance performance by using muscle signals for control.

However, while great strides have been made in prosthetics today, there are major issues that still exist in today’s prosthetics.?

For instance, most prosthetic limbs are heavy to carry, and this can be a sore experience, especially when one is required to use the limb for a longer period.?

Furthermore, these devices are not invulnerable to wear and tear even if they possess durability; this makes them sensitive to breakdown in high activity areas.?

Control remains another serious issue, as the creators of such interfaces tend to struggle to make inputs as fluid and natural for the users as possible. This shows the need to take a few steps forward in the improvements and advancements of the concept. Johns Hopkins Medicine](https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/).?

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Next-Generation Prosthetic Materials.?

The advancement of next generation prosthetics depends on the use of enhanced material, which possess features like, high strength, high durability, and are also bio compatible in nature.

Fiber such as carbon fiber and metals such as titanium have been seen to improve the strength to weight ratio in prosthetics, making them stronger and lighter than their counterparts.?

Out of them, carbon fiber is extremely valuable as its use adds less weight to the body, while using less body space and possesses fatigue resistant characteristics.?

In the meantime, titanium is preferred, due to its biocompatibility and corrosion properties that enables it to be used for long term implantation, in prosthetic devices and in contact with human tissues.?

In addition to these prototypes, there are other categories of materials which researchers have shown interest in, known as biomimetic materials, which is the replication of the properties of natural tissues.?

These materials have an objective to mimic muscles and tendons, in a manner in which prosthetic devices better mimic actual limbs.?

For instance, within the last three to four years, there has been the introduction of new smart materials, like shape memory alloys, electro active polymers that are smart in a way that for example, can alter its shape or stiffness in response to the application of an electrical signal, which in basic principle is similar to a muscle contraction.?

Also, the use of nanomaterials and 3D printing in production provides for individually created implants that take into account physical peculiarities of individual patients.?

These advancements in material science do more than improving the strength and durability of prosthetic devices, but also allow for better feedback, or what is called tactile feedback that makes the prosthetic device sensitive to the user’s surroundings and movements [NIBIB](https://www.nibib.nih.gov/).?

Feedback and Control Systems utilizing the senses

The current technology being utilized in prosthetics is highly dependent on the sense and control feedback that is needed to build the next generation of prosthetics that are functional and natural in use.?

Sensory feedback systems which include, sensors, electrodes, and neural interface, recovers the natural prehension that a user would otherwise fail to feel due to a biological limb loss.?

For instance, pressure sensors can be installed in fingertips of the prosthetic to enable the person to feel the pressure that is exerted on an object he is holding or feeling.?

Likewise, the temperature sensors are also capable of providing feedback to the system, about the warmth or coldness of an object adding to the real feel of the prosthetic.?

Neural interfaces are especially applicable to this area of application. They enable a one on one interaction between the prosthetic tool and the human nervous system, in this case a two way interaction.?

This connection allows those with the prosthetic to have commands initiated in the brain and movements performed with the prosthetic, as well as those with the prosthetic to send sensations back to the brain making it feel a bit more real.?

As with other control systems, prototypic next-generation prosthetics require these control solutions as well. Most modern prosthetics utilize computer chips and complex patterns to decipher muscles contractions or thoughts.?

These microprocessors can take a vast amount of data in a short space of time, and thus provide smoother and more accurate movements. In addition, presumably, continuous and controlled changes in user’s movement patterns are used as a basis to implement learning algorithms in machine learning and improve the control of a prosthetic limb.?

These advances illustrate the need to integrate haptic feedback with well-designed control architectures, in order to build prosthetic limbs that look and function as replacements for organic appendages.?

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Prosthetic Design and Functionality?

Creating a next generation prosthetic is all about equalizing several factors such as usability, as well as the appearance and operation of the prosthetic.

Comfort should be given top priority to allow for extended wearing as a prosthetic. However, it must be as light as possible, and conform to the residual limb of the user, in order to avoid the production of pressure sores or the injury of the user.?

Another consideration with prosthetic design is weight distribution where ideally, none of the parts of the prosthetic should place much pressure to other parts of the body or the entire system as this causes strain and fatigue, if the prosthetic has to be used for extended periods.?

Aesthetics is another consideration that designers need to take into consideration when developing prosthetics. Most users wish to have a prosthetic which in addition to being functional and responsive, should be aesthetically appealing.?

It has become possible to achieve textures, such as the real skin color and even imprint skin on the artificially made limbs, and this is through material advancement, and the ability to use 3D printing technology for limb construction.?

From the above descriptions of clients’ perceptions of attractive prosthetics, it is quite clear that perceptions of attractive prosthetics can improve the psychological health of patients and/or their confidence in their appearance and performance.?

Functionality is arguably the most critical aspect of prosthetics, since the primary goal of prosthetics is to restore the functionality of a limb. The prosthetic should allow for a number of natural movements that are as close to the movements of a biological limb as possible.?

This includes not only the large movements, for example, walking or lifting an object, but also the small movements, for example, typing or picking up an object.?

The need for natural movement and range of motion cannot be overemphasized, because these are critical in enabling the users to go about their activities in their daily lives.?

To achieve these criteria, engineers and designers need to collaborate with medical practitioners and users to design prosthetics.?

MIT's Biomechatronics Group](https://biomech.media.mit.edu/).?

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Case Studies and Success Stories?

Some of the recent innovations in next-generation prosthetics have offered significant improvements to the users, which shows the possibilities of the technology in this area.?

A good example is the LUKE Arm, which is a prosthetic arm designed by DEKA Research & Development Corp.?

People have stated that they have experienced a lot of benefits in terms of carrying out activities in their everyday lives, including holding a cup or typing on a keyboard.?

You can learn more about the LUKE Arm and its impact on users by visiting the? [U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)](https://www.fda.gov).?

Another success story is that of Tilly Lockey, a young girl who lost both her hands at a very tender age. She has used 3D-printed bionic arms which are not only functional but also beautiful, and are made in a way that represents her character.?

Tilly’s case shows how individualized prosthetic devices can improve the quality of life and self-esteem of the users, especially children and young adults.?

To read more about Tilly’s story and the advancements in 3D-printed prosthetics, visit Open Bionics](https://openbionics.com/).?

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Challenges and Future Directions.?

There are however numerous issues which define development of the next generation prosthetics, which although promising, having a feel, and function that is as natural as the original limb is not there yet.?

One of the biggest challenges includes getting adequate capital for innovation and research purposes.?

In the present research, it was identified that the process of creating high-tech prostheses is complex, very costly, and may involve use of experts from different fields including engineering, neuroscience, and medicine.?

Also, it is worth noticing that quite often, it is expensive to acquire new materials and technologies for production, which makes it extremely challenging for small-scaled organizations to participate actively in the industry.?

Another major concern that has been identified is that of obtaining regulatory approval.?

Current prosthetic devices should conform to higher safety and effectiveness requirements by regulatory organizations, such as the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This may take time and may entail a lot of processes, hence leading to a retardation of getting new solutions to the market.?

In addition, combining the highest level technologies including neural interfaces and AI-controlled control systems into prosthetics, demands the creation of new legal dispositions to control the safety and ethical aspects.?

So future trend in prosthetic studies and development involves some of the following aspects; The advancement of biocompatible products continue to be developed to make the prosthetic products to be cheaper to build, The neural integration control is still developed, to enable the prosthetics to be controlled as naturally as possible, integration of artificial intelligence to make the prosthetic devices to be smarter as they are developed.?

Another field that is also being studied by scientists is the connections between regenerative medicine and prosthetics with an aim of using biological and mechanical parts to achieve even a better result.?

Further development in these fields will be central to eradicating existing drawbacks, and allow the users to benefit from prostheses, which they consider as part of themselves.?

For more insights into the future of prosthetic research, visit? [The National Institute of Health (NIH)](https://www.nih.gov/).??

Conclusion?

It can therefore be concluded that the process of trying to create the next generation prosthetics, with a life-like feel and functionality is both difficult and exciting.?

Through the knowledge of human structure, application of complex material, and usage of state of the art monitoring and control methods, there can be? constant work towards creating perfect artificial extremities.?

However, it poses special problems like funding and regulation issues, which are crucial to overcome so as to encourage innovation.?

For these developments to be made, continuous cooperation of researchers, engineers, and clinicians is essential. There’s a need to have the call to action in prosecuting development in this area, so that people with limb loss could have better quality of life around the world.?

Name: Engr. Chukwuka E Asamaka

Title: The Possibilities of Next-Generation Prosthetics That Provide A Natural Feel And Function.

Organization: Asamaka Industries Ltd , Asamaka Industries Ltd Nigeria

Category: Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics