Author Topic: Engineers create artificial skin that can send pressure sensation to brain cell  (Read 400 times)

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Offline Dexter

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http://phys.org/news/2015-10-artificial-skin-pressure-sensation-brain.html

Stanford engineers have created a plastic "skin" that can detect how hard it is being pressed and generate an electric signal to deliver this sensory input directly to a living brain cell.
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Offline EC

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I'm getting more and more confident that replacement limbs are going to be both indistinguishable from and better than the originals well within my life time.

I do have one concern. Well, two, but one doesn't apply to most people!  :laugh:

The more sensory inputs the limb provides, the more realistic it behaves and the better it works. That is going to be a hell of a steep learning curve for the recipient! Adult brains are no where near as capable of learning as babies are, when it comes to sorting out stimuli and what nerve impulses move what, and it still takes babies three or four years to get the hang of controlling their limbs!

The other concern, since I do martial arts: muscle memory is a thing, as are learned reflex arcs. Will it be possible to do that or simulate that with artificials? Can't see how really. I spar against a guy with an artificial arm from time to time and you can see the difference in reaction speed on the blocks (but make damn sure you block, because that thing bloody HURTS if it hits you!).
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