A wireless sensor-brain interface to restore finger sensation

用于恢复手指感觉的无线传感器-大脑接口

• 批准号: 1404041
• 负责人: Timothy Lucas
• 金额: $ 60万
• 依托单位: University of Pennsylvania
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-09-15 至 2017-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1404041&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: wireless; sensor; brain; interface; restore

PI: Lucas, Timothy H. Proposal Number: 1404041Institution: University of PennsylvaniaTitle: A wireless sensor-brain interface to restore finger sensationThe objective of this project is to develop a device, called a sensor-brain interface (SBI), which can restore the sense of touch and the sense of movement in a paralyzed hand. Considerable evidence suggests that these sensations will greatly improve a person?s ability to regain function of their hand. When combined with a therapy for restoring movement, the SBI has the potential to improve the quality of life of millions of people with hand paralysis due to spinal cord injury or other neurological conditions. The SBI has three components: sensors worn on the fingers, electronics that convert the sensor signals into appropriate electrical stimulation patterns, and stimulating electrodes to convey the signals directly to the brain. Novel designs are used for each of these components to achieve a system that is unobtrusive to wear and intuitive to use. The first two components have broader significance in the rapidly expanding field of wearable technology. The third component will inform the multitude of clinical therapies using electrical stimulation to modulate brain function. Collectively, the three components will yield a substantial vertical step towards reconnecting body and brain after paralysis.Somatosensory signals are critical to normal motor function but their transmission, as with movement commands, is interrupted in paralysis. Neuroprosthetic devices are typically designed to restore movement but not sensation in the paralyzed limb. The resulting modest performance has not justified the use of these devices in a wide clinical population. To improve performance, the investigators will develop a sensor-brain interface (SBI) with the goal of restoring sensation to a paralyzed hand. The SBI has three components corresponding to the three aims of the project. The first aim is to make wearable tactile and motion sensors that are small and completely wireless and therefore unobtrusive to the user. The investigators will pursue two types of novel battery-free sensors of mechanical stimuli: (1) a battery-free active sensor of fingertip vibration powered by harvesting energy from emitted radio waves and (2) a fully-passive, circuit-free sensor using flexible radiofrequency identification tags to sense fingertip pressure and finger joint angle. The second aim is to design a body-area network (BAN) to wirelessly acquire and process the sensor output, configurably map the sensed signals to neural stimulation parameters, and wirelessly convey the parameters to a neural stimulator. The BAN will be accomplished with two, battery-powered, low-power circuits: (1) a sensor controller worn at the wrist and (2) a stimulation controller worn near the head. The third aim is to perform in-vivo tests to validate function of the SBI and evaluate the hypothesis that the cuneate nucleus (CN) of the brainstem is an advantageous site for encoding somatosensory information. The CN maximizes the amount of downstream neural circuitry available to process the artificial stimuli and to make the resulting percepts more intuitive to the user. The encoding performance will be compared to a more conventional, cortical encoding site. Finally, two different encoding paradigms will be compared to assess their relative merit. The scope of this project is to develop a functional SBI prototype and test the device in non-human primates. Following completion of the project, the investigators envision that the SBI could be combined with brain-controlled muscle stimulation for a complete, bidirectional, sensorimotor neuroprosthesis for reanimating a paralyzed hand.

PI：卢卡斯，蒂莫西H. 提案编号：1404041机构：宾夕法尼亚大学题目：一种恢复手指感觉的无线传感器-大脑接口本项目的目标是开发一种称为传感器-大脑接口（SBI）的设备，它可以恢复瘫痪手部的触觉和运动感。大量的证据表明，这些感觉将大大改善一个人？恢复手部功能的能力。当与恢复运动的治疗相结合时，SBI有可能改善数百万因脊髓损伤或其他神经系统疾病而导致手部瘫痪的人的生活质量。履行机构有三个组成部分：戴在手指上的传感器、将传感器信号转换成适当的电刺激模式的电子器件以及将信号直接传送到大脑的刺激电极。新颖的设计用于这些部件中的每一个，以实现佩戴不显眼且使用直观的系统。前两个组成部分在快速扩张的可穿戴技术领域具有更广泛的意义。第三个组成部分将为使用电刺激来调节大脑功能的多种临床治疗提供信息。总的来说，这三个组成部分将产生一个实质性的垂直步骤，使瘫痪后的身体和大脑重新连接。躯体感觉信号对正常的运动功能至关重要，但它们的传输，就像运动命令一样，在瘫痪中中断。神经假体装置通常被设计用于恢复瘫痪肢体的运动，但不能恢复其感觉。由此产生的适度性能并不能证明这些器械在广泛临床人群中的使用是合理的。为了提高性能，研究人员将开发一种传感器-大脑接口（SBI），目的是恢复瘫痪手的感觉。履行机构有三个组成部分，与项目的三个目标相对应。第一个目标是制造可穿戴的触觉和运动传感器，这些传感器体积小，完全无线，因此对用户来说不显眼。研究人员将研究两种新型的无电池机械刺激传感器：（1）无电池的指尖振动有源传感器，通过从发射的无线电波中收集能量来供电;（2）完全无源的无电路传感器，使用灵活的射频识别标签来感知指尖压力和手指关节角度。第二个目标是设计一个体域网（BAN），以无线方式获取和处理传感器输出，可配置地将感测到的信号映射到神经刺激参数，并将参数无线传送到神经刺激器。BAN将通过两个电池供电的低功耗电路来实现：（1）佩戴在手腕处的传感器控制器和（2）佩戴在头部附近的刺激控制器。第三个目的是进行体内测试，以验证SBI的功能，并评估脑干的楔状核（CN）是编码体感信息的有利部位的假设。CN最大化可用于处理人工刺激的下游神经电路的量，并使所得感知对用户更直观。编码性能将比较一个更传统的，皮质编码网站。最后，两种不同的编码范式将进行比较，以评估其相对优点。该项目的范围是开发一个功能性SBI原型，并在非人类灵长类动物中测试该设备。在项目完成后，研究人员设想SBI可以与脑控制的肌肉刺激相结合，形成一个完整的双向感觉运动神经假体，用于恢复瘫痪的手。