Toward an Animal Model of Freely Moving Humans

描述（由申请人提供）：成千上万的人患有神经损伤和疾病，导致永久性丧失运动功能。目前还没有针对这些疾病的有效治疗方法。神经义肢系统已经填补了其中的一些治疗空白，但仍有许多仍然存在。一种很有前途的神经义肢系统旨在为义肢提供直接的大脑控制。这些运动假肢通过所谓的“解码算法”，将大脑的神经活动转化为控制信号，以指导假肢手臂。我们认为，现在是时候研究一个潜在的高性能和高鲁棒性的大脑控制信号（人类ECoG）如何通过一种新的解码算法来工作，并控制最先进的高自由度假肢手臂（DARPA手臂）。为了研究这种可能性，我们的具体目标是在两年内展示高灵巧手臂的高性能和高鲁棒性控制，具体目标如下。SA1：我们将试图证明在系统的伸手、抓握和手指运动任务中人类ECoG信号的调制。SA2：我们将使用人类ECoG信号对离散的、顺序的关节运动进行闭环控制。SA3：我们将使用人类ECoG信号对手臂、手进行闭环、平滑、高速的控制，甚至最终实现个性化的手指运动。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Hundreds of thousands of people suffer from neurological injuries and disease, resulting in the permanent loss of motor function. Effective treatments do not currently exist for many of these conditions. Neural prosthetic systems have filled several of these treatment gaps, but many still remain. One promising class of neural prosthetic system aims to provide direct brain control of prosthetic arms. These motor prostheses translate neural activity from the brain into control signals to guide the prosthetic arm, working through a so-called "decode algorithm". We believe that the time is right to investigate how a potentially high-performance and high-robustness brain control signal (human ECoG) can work through a new class of decode algorithm, and control a state-of-the-art high degree of freedom prosthetic arm (DARPA arm). To investigate this possibility, with the aim of demonstrating very high performance and high robustness control of a high dexterity arm within two years, our Specific Aims (SAs) are as follows. SA1: we will seek to demonstrate modulation of human ECoG signals during a systematic set of reaching, grasping, and finger movement tasks. SA2: we will use human ECoG signals for the closed-loop control of discrete, sequential joint movements. SA3: we will use human ECoG signals for closed-loop, smooth, high-speed control of the arm, hand, and ultimately even individuated finger movements. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Hundreds of thousands of people in the US alone suffer from neurological injuries and disease, resulting in the permanent loss of motor function or even the ability to communicate. Conditions include upper spinal cord injury, ALS, and amputation. Our proposed research aims to dramatically increase the performance of neurally-controlled (ECoG controlled) prosthetic devices, specifically the recently designed DARPA Arm (from the Applied Physics Lab), with the goal of improving the quality of life for these patients.