There was a slight whirring sound as Avi Davidson moved a pawn two spaces forward on the chess board, his robotic arm placing it with precision as he completed his turn.
Despite the fact that Davidson lost the lower half of his arm nearly 17 years ago, he could feel the edges of the small chess piece as he held it between robotic fingers — with the apt amount of pressure to stabilize his grip.
How was this possible?
A small device inside the nerves and muscles in Davidson’s upper arm was receiving the neurological signals sent by Davidson’s brain, amplifying them using an advanced computer and, using AI technology, translating the signals into intended movements in the robotic hand.
“With that, you truly have a Luke Skywalker-inspired bionic arm that a person can control with their thought,” said Jacob George, director of the Utah NeuroRobotics Lab, and chief scientist for Biologic Input Output Systems, where the technology was developed.
“But what’s better than that is that that same arm can actually also restore a sense of touch back to the user,” George continued.
The device, which George described as a “brain-computer interface,” not only allowed Davidson to control the robotic arm, but allowed him to experience the physical sensation of touch for the first time in nearly two decades.
The device, known as the “Luke Arm,” is the result of decades of work by researchers in the University of Utah’s NeuroRobotics Lab and BIOS.
Davidson is one of nine patients to trial the technology, and is the first to take the device home to improve functionality in his everyday life. As research continues, it’s becoming clearer how this could change the lives of countless patients in the near future.
“We’ve transitioned from basic science questions about what’s feasible or possible towards this is a reality,” George said. “This is happening now.”
The cutting-edge device is ‘worlds beyond’ others like it
Davidson started working with researchers at the University of Utah almost one year ago. Prior to working with the LUKE Arm, he had used two prosthetic hooks and three myoelectric prosthetics. The LUKE Arm was his first neuroprosthesis device.
Before undergoing surgery to implant the transmitter device in his upper arm, Davidson participated in a trial run that allowed him to sample what the control would feel like. After just the initial go, Davidson told the Deseret News, he knew the device would be “worlds beyond anything I’ve ever experienced.”
As he spoke with the Deseret News, Davidson moved his wrist around.
“The fact that I can now flex my wrists up and down to make it move, that task alone is something that no other prosthetic can do,” he explained.
Physical sensations add ‘a whole other level’ to tasks, Davidson says
When Davidson began learning to use the device, he started with simple tasks and gradually became more complex. Simple skills that some may take for granted were difficult, but Davidson slowly learned to master them. Many of his early tasks were related to cooking: picking up an unboiled egg without cracking it, slicing strawberries and scooping yogurt into a bowl.
“Opening a can of tuna to make a sandwich,” Davidson said. “I can do that now.”
Davidson is the ninth patient to trial the technology at the University of Utah lab, but is the first to take it home and use it functionally in everyday life without supervision in the lab.
Leanne Seckinger, the occupational therapist who has been working with Davidson, said the technology “opens access and abilities to do more natural kinds of movements in a more efficient way.”
The ability to physically feel objects as he performs tasks, Davidson said, “adds a whole other level to any task.” That sensation, George added, has even brought some patients to tears.
Prosthetic hands are just the start
The process of understanding and approving this new technology is ongoing as it develops. Researchers at the University of Utah have worked with nine patients so far and collected more than 30,000 hours worth of data from neural data recordings.
Much of the initial research centered around prosthetic hands, but it may soon move far beyond that.
“We’re using this right now for prosthetic hand, but definitely in the future you could use this to interact with almost any assistive technology,” said Marshall Trout, a postdoctoral researcher at the Utah NeuroRobotics Lab. “It could be a wheelchair. It could be exoskeletons. Pretty much any of the other devices that you see out there now could be controlled by this system.”
Currently, researchers are working on implementing the technology into lower-limb prosthetics that can assist with walking in mountainous, complex terrain like the hills of Utah.
Beyond that, the technology could also be used on patients with spinal cord injuries.
“It actually doesn’t even necessarily have to be a physical body part that we’re replacing, but we could use this as an interface with technology more broadly,” George said. Patients with ALS or locked-in syndrome could use similar devices to communicate with smart home technologies.
“It’s really a bridge between, you know, a person and the technology and the assistive devices that support them,” George continued. “And it really allows seamless interaction and allows them to do a lot more than they can.”
The device may have ‘quite literally limitless’ potential
Making this technology widely available “isn’t something that’s light-years away,” George said. “This is something that will happen within this decade.” As the ability of the technology advances, its use is predicted to spread.
Chris Duncan, chief medical officer for BIOS, said he hopes the technology can improve the quality of life for patients dealing with physical disabilities.
“The magic that happens in the eyes and lives of individuals when they try this technology is indisputable, and it’s because of that right that we need to give people these new technologies,” Duncan said.
For Davidson, he is still practicing daily to improve his ability to use the technology. As his skills develop, he wants to “test the limits of it and see what can I feel in this world with my hand,” hopefully even getting back to his hobby of photography. After seeing the effects in his own life, Davidson awes at how it could influence others.
“There are quite literally limitless potentials that this technology can be utilized in,” Davidson said. “I mean, I can’t even imagine the limitations or how far-reaching this actually is.”
“This should not be locked away in a lab,” he said. “It should be available to anybody and everybody.”