Revolutionizing Prosthetics: How New Technology Helps Amputees Feel Again
Can you use a prosthesis to feel?
If you’re an amputee, you know well the daily challenges and adjustments that come with it. It’s not just about adapting to a physical change; it’s about rediscovering how to navigate a world that wasn’t always designed for you.
There is an extensive variety of prosthetics available today, offering a range of functions from simple to highly advanced. However, one persistent barrier artificial limbs face is control. The long-term goal has always been to create prosthetics that can be controlled intuitively and naturally.
Several exciting advancements have taken place over the last decade or so. For example, myoelectric sleeves can be worn, which detect the electrical impulse of muscle cells firing. Those signals can be used to activate any number of predetermined movements on a robotic limb.
The solution, at Biologic Input Output Systems (BIOS), is an implanted device which can directly communicate with individual nerve cells, one at a time. This allows movement signals to be translated in real-time. In practice, this means using a robotic arm simply with your thoughts.
What if we can do more?
For too long, prosthetic technology has primarily focused on restoring movement, which, while important, is only part of the equation. What about the ability to feel? Imagine sensing temperature. Pressure, and texture. Or being able to instinctively grasp an object without crushing it. For many amputees, the loss of sensation is a profound challenge.
With the inspiring and groundbreaking teams at the University of Utah NeuroRobotics Lab and the Craig H Rehabilitation Center, BIOS is making incredible strides in advancing robotics and neural interfaces. The BIOS neural interface, inspired by Luke Skywalker, is giving individuals with limb loss a renewed sense of independence and normalcy.
Researchers are turning what once seemed like science fiction into a reality by restoring sensation for veterans and other amputees.
As featured in the emotional Fox 13 segment, a veteran describes his life-changing experience and impact of using a robotic arm that can move with his thoughts and simultaneously, have a sense of touch.
“With our system, we have an implanted device that allows the person to simply think about moving their hand, and it moves with their thoughts. And what’s better than a bionic arm controlled by thoughts? Well, that same arm can actually give a person a sense of touch.”
– Jacob A. George, Ph.D., BIOS Chief Scientist, Director of the Utah NeuroRobotics Lab
Making This Technology a Reality
BIOS is conducting an ongoing Investigational Device Exemption (IDE) Early Feasibility Study in collaboration with the University of Utah, allowing for the recruitment of the clinical trial’s next participant.
The overwhelming positive outcomes of this technology in the first 8 patients, led to the BIOS AI-neural interface, earning “Breakthrough Device Designation” from the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in March 2024, an admission to the selective FDA Total Product Lifecycle Advisory Program. The FDA uses these programs to fast-track promising innovative medical devices toward everyday use.
BIOS goal is to have this technology available to anyone who needs it as soon as they can.
If you would like to learn more about BIOS and upcoming research studies, please reach out at info@bios.works.