Lecturer: Cosima Prahm
Fields: Medicine/Neuroscience/Machine Learning
Content
Although the hand represents only 1% of our body weight, most of our sensorimotor cortex is associated with its control. The loss of a hand therefore not only signifies the loss of the most important tool with which we can interact with our environment, but also leaves us with a drastic sensory-motor deficit that challenges our central nervous system. Restoring hand function is therefore not only an essential part of restoring physical integrity and functional employability, but also closes the neural circuit, thereby reducing phantom sensations and nerve pain.
When there is no longer sufficient anatomy to restore meaningful function, we can resort to complex robotic replacements whose functional capabilities in some respects even surpass biological alternatives, such as conservative reconstructive measures or transplantation of a hand. However, as with replantation and transplantation, the challenge with bionic robotic replacements is to solidly attach it the skeleton and connect the prosthesis to our neural and muscular system to achieve natural, intuitive control and also provide basic sensory feedback.
This interdisciplinary course will discuss the progressive development of upper extremity robotic prosthetics in the fields of bioengineering, medicine, computer science, and neuroscience. We address the medical basis of biosignals, movement, amputation and restoration, and various systems of prosthetic limbs to restore physical integrity. We will discuss enhancement versus restoration and how to improve the man-machine-interface, exemplified with case studies.
Literature
- Aszmann, O. C., & Farina, D. (2021). Bionic Limb Reconstruction. In O. C. Aszmann & D. Farina (Eds.), Bionic Limb Reconstruction (1st ed.). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60746-3
- Prahm, C., Daigeler, A., & Kolbenschlag, J. (2021). Bionische Rekonstruktion der oberen Extremität. In Plastische Chirurgie (3rd ed., pp. 135–145). Kaden.
- Bressler, M., Merk, J., Heinzel, J., Butz, M. V., Daigeler, A., Kolbenschlag, J., & Prahm, C. (2022). Visualizing the Unseen: Illustrating and Documenting Phantom Limb Sensations and Phantom Limb Pain With C.A.L.A. Frontiers in Rehabilitation Sciences, 3(February), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fresc.2022.806114
- Prahm, C., Schulz, A., Paaben, B., Schoisswohl, J., Kaniusas, E., Dorffner, G., Hammer, B., & Aszmann, O. (2019). Counteracting Electrode Shifts in Upper-Limb Prosthesis Control via Transfer Learning. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 27(5), 956–962. https://doi.org/10.1109/TNSRE.2019.2907200
Lecturer
Cosima Prahm received her PhD in Medicine – Clinical Neuroscience at the Clinical Laboratory for Bionic Extremity Reconstruction at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria. Since 2019 she is heading the Research Laboratory for Advanced Reconstruction, Regeneration and Rehabilitation of Extremities at the department for Hand, Plastic, Reconstructive and Burn Surgery at the University Clinic of Tuebingen/BG Hospital, Germany. Her research focus includes the improvement of human machine interfaces for upper extremity amputees, nerve regeneration, organ on a chip and virtual rehabilitation in XR environments.
Affiliation: BG Hospital, University Clinic of Tuebingen, Department for Hand, Plastic, Reconstructive and Burn Surgery
Homepage: https://www.bg-kliniken.de/klinik-tuebingen/fachbereiche/detail/rekonstruktive-chirurgie/