Subject: February Meeting

Hello AHA,

Hope you all are well! We are looking forward to our next meeting. We will be having a special visitor, Josh Hogge, come to interview any upper extremity amputees for his Master's project. Please take a moment to read below his proposal and please share if there is someone else you think may be able to benefit from a new design in upper limb prosthetics. There is plenty of space in our classroom, so even if you are not interested in coming for the interview, please come on out and show your support for each other. Thanks - Natalie and Dayton

Project Proposal:

Over the years, upper-limb amputees have had few viable choices of prosthetics that add value to their lives. The typical prosthetic arm is either a mechanical hook-and-cables setup with 1-2 degrees of freedom or a myoelectrically controlled setup with 2-3 degrees of freedom. Myoelectric prosthetics are gaining popularity, especially with younger amputees, but the current method of electrically sensing muscle potentials only allows for a few simple open-close or flex-extend movements. Technology is pushing forward and companies are developing prosthetic arms with up to 22 degrees of freedom (the same number as a human hand) which is demanding much scrutiny of the control mechanisms for these higher order prosthetics.

During the span of this Johns Hopkins Biomedical Systems Engineering Masters project, I plan to study the interfaces between an amputee’s residual limb and new prosthetic arms featuring high degrees of freedom. The objective of the project is to apply systems engineering processes and concepts to develop a system which learns the electrical output patterns of a subject’s residual limb and applies the patterns to moving a complex prosthetic arm. The system is intended for use by upper-limb amputees, to be fitted by the user’s prosthetist, and trained by the user’s occupational therapists to provide the amputee with unparalleled control of a new arm without need for invasive neural implants.

So in basic terms:

I'm looking for upper limb amputees to interview about what they would be looking for in a system that allows for control of an arm with more joints. I have found some research that is leading me to believe that I can take electrical signals from the skin and control more joints than can currently be controlled without surgery to tapping into nerves. I'm hoping to talk to anyone who has upper limb loss. I have different sets of questions to ask those in different situations (those whom use prosthetics and those who don't, those whom prefer mechanical prosthesis, and those whom prefer myoelectric systems). I'm at the point in my project where any data is good data!

Note: Classroom 2 this month only.

Chat soon!