Vyacheslav Kostrov, a graduate student of the Faculty of Radio Engineering and Electronics of the Novosibirsk State Technical University, a resident of the SBI Garage, has developed a model of a bionic prosthesis that will return the functionality of the lost upper limb, which will enable people with amputation or a hand aplasia to live a full life.
"Only 20% of disabled people in Russia have a functional prosthesis; as a rule, a person receives a cosmetic or traction prosthesis, while a bionic one is very rare, because of the high cost of a bionic prosthesis that starts from 1 million rubles, so not everyone can afford it. Therefore, I wanted to develop a bionic prosthetic hand at a lower cost, but with all functions preserved. A feature of this development is the modular design, which unifies the basic modules of the prosthesis, for example, fingers, control system and sensors. A tailored prosthesis with all necessary functions can be created with the help of the basic modules. At this stage of the development, the prosthesis can perform some 30 types of grips and gestures. Here we also implement a unique automatic sensor calibration system, which allows adjusting the prosthesis without user intervention," Vyacheslav Kostrov said. According to him, the brain does not have time to accept the loss of a limb, so it can experience phantom pains. As a rule, at first, a person intuitively tries using a limb, i. e., the brain continues to send impulses to certain muscles. The developer believes that if a bionic prosthesis is installed shortly after amputation, a person will adapt to it very quickly.
"The main requirement for the use of a bionic prosthesis is to preserve forearm muscles active. The prosthesis is installed on the preserved part of the arm with the help of a prosthetic socket. The prosthetic socket contains a group of sensors that are located in areas with active arm muscles. In practice, the control of the prosthesis is carried out due to the association of a hand gesture with the traction of a particular muscle group. The number of gestures and grips is limited only by the control method and the number of sensors. Importantly, a bionic prosthesis does not provide the full functionality of one's hand, but daily training and constant use enable performing all the basic tasks: open doors, drive a car, use a computer, hold any objects, and so on," Vyacheslav Kostrov says.
With the support of SBI Garage and the Faculty of Radio Engineering and Electrical Engineering V. Kostrov continues the development of a bionic prosthesis, he also expanded the field of research to anthropomorphic manipulators and copying control systems.