Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, USA.
Nat Biomed Eng. 2024 Aug;8(8):1004-1017. doi: 10.1038/s41551-023-01070-w. Epub 2023 Jul 27.
Multimodal sensory feedback from upper-limb prostheses can increase their function and usability. Here we show that intuitive thermal perceptions during cold-object grasping with a prosthesis can be restored in a phantom hand through targeted nerve stimulation via a wearable thin-film thermoelectric device with high cooling power density and speed. We found that specific regions of the residual limb, when thermally stimulated, elicited thermal sensations in the phantom hand that remained stable beyond 48 weeks. We also found stimulation sites that selectively elicited sensations of temperature, touch or both, depending on whether the stimulation was thermal or mechanical. In closed-loop functional tasks involving the identification of cold objects by amputees and by non-amputee participants, and compared with traditional bulk thermoelectric devices, the wearable thin-film device reliably elicited cooling sensations that were up to 8 times faster and up to 3 times greater in intensity while using half the energy and 1/600 the mass of active thermoelectric material. Wearable thin-film thermoelectric devices may allow for the non-invasive restoration of thermal perceptions during touch.
上肢假肢的多模态感觉反馈可以提高其功能和可用性。在这里，我们通过一种具有高冷却功率密度和速度的可穿戴薄膜热电设备，展示了通过靶向神经刺激，在幻影手上可以恢复假肢冷物体抓握时的直观热感觉。我们发现，当残肢的特定区域受到热刺激时，会在幻影手上产生稳定的热感觉，这种感觉可以持续超过 48 周。我们还发现，刺激部位可以根据刺激是热刺激还是机械刺激，选择性地产生温度、触觉或两者的感觉。在涉及截肢者和非截肢者参与者识别冷物体的闭环功能任务中，与传统的块状热电设备相比，可穿戴薄膜设备可靠地产生冷却感觉，速度快 8 倍，强度大 3 倍，而能量消耗仅为一半，活性热电材料的质量为 1/600。可穿戴薄膜热电设备可能允许在不进行侵入性治疗的情况下恢复触摸时的热感觉。
