Bionic Prosthetics are Almost Here

By Paolo von Schirach,

December 9, 2024 – An article published by MIT News, (A prosthesis driven by the nervous system helps people with amputation walk naturally, by Anne Trafton, July 1, 2024), describes the new frontiers of artificial limbs. Advanced electronics, blended with careful connections with the persons muscles, can create an almost perfect artificial limb that allows a “natural” way of walking or climbing the stairs for a person using a prosthetic leg. As the article puts it: “A new surgical procedure gives people more neural feedback from their residual limb. With it, seven patients walked more naturally and navigated obstacles.”

This is not perfection when it comes to artificial limbs. However, it is a significant step forward that may lead in the future to the “bionic human” that we have seen only in movies. To put it simply, it is now possible to connect the artificial limb to the persons muscles so that impulses from the body can be “interpreted” by robotic mechanisms embedded in the artificial limb leading to the reproduction of a quasi-perfect type of motion. Clearly the goal is to implant on a human body an artificial part that feels natural and allows the person to engage in all the everyday activities that he or she would perform with a natural leg.

“Using a new type of surgical intervention and neuroprosthetic interface –the article explains– MIT researchers, in collaboration with colleagues from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, have shown that a natural walking gait is achievable using a prosthetic leg fully driven by the body’s own nervous system. The surgical amputation procedure reconnects muscles in the residual limb, which allows patients to receive “proprioceptive” feedback about where their prosthetic limb is in space. In a study of seven patients who had this surgery, the MIT team found that they were able to walk faster, avoid obstacles, and climb stairs much more naturally than people with a traditional amputation.”

For the lay person, it is difficult to understand how the scientists managed to create a functioning connection between the amputee brain, his or her muscles and the artificial limb so that a “normal,” natural gait can take place without any special effort. This means that it is possible for the amputee to engage in normal walking, up and down stairs, going uphill and downhill, avoiding obstacles –just like a normal person, with natural limbs, would do.

This is not the end of the road. The scientists interviewed for the MIT News article indicated that the improved connectivity with the person’s muscles allowed by this new generation of “super charged” prosthetics is about 20 per cent. However, even this relatively modest upgrade seems to be enough for the amputee to regain almost full range of motion.

And this is amazing. It means that people who suffered the loss of limbs on account of accidents or combat duty in the future will be able to go back to a mostly normal life with the aid of this new generation of artificial limbs powered by complex electronics.

If we consider only the U.S. military, online research shows that between January 1, 2001, and October 31, 2017, 1,705 US service members sustained major amputations to their limbs because of deployment.

The major limb amputation rate for the US military in Afghanistan and Iraq is similar to that of previous conflicts. The lower extremities are more likely to be amputated than the upper extremities because they are more vulnerable to injuries from explosions on the ground.

Beyond the United States military, think about the victims of industrial and work-related accidents, or landmines, across the world. Many landmines’ victims die on account of the explosion. Many others survive; but they often suffer the loss of limbs. When this proven but still futuristic technology will become routine, thousands of landmines victims, from Angola to Mozambique and Sudan, and many other countries will be able to receive artificial limbs that will allow them to regain full range of motion, and this way a path to a normal life.

Paolo von Schirach is the President of the Global Policy Institute, a Washington DC think tank, and Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Bay Atlantic University, also in Washington, DC. He is also the Editor of the Schirach Report.

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