Chapter 499: New hope for people with disabilities
After raising this question, Wu Hao glanced at everyone and then continued: "First of all, our body structure is actually very complicated.
Generally speaking, the prostheses mainly used by us disabled people are limbs, that is, our arms, legs and feet.
If a person loses his legs and feet, he loses his ability to move. Although we humans have invented crutches and prosthetics a long time ago, these are also used to assist the disabled to move. Although they cannot return to normal,
But it is barely ok for walking.
With the development of human society, or the increasing scale of war, research and improvement on prosthetics are also developing rapidly.
Yes, war is a disaster for mankind itself and human society. Especially the thermal weapon wars in modern times have caused a large number of people to lose their hands and feet.
These disabled people urgently need better prosthetics, which has also given rise to the rapid development of prosthetic technology and pushed prosthetic technology into the modern era.
Today's ordinary prostheses are specially customized according to the patient's physical condition, and the ergonomic mechanical design also makes these prostheses more suitable for disabled people. Many prostheses also help these people stand up again, and there is no problem in walking normally.
There are even some high-tech prosthetics, such as the once-famous ‘Blade Runner’. The high-tech prosthetics he wore allowed him to walk as fast as flying. With this, he entered the sports arena and competed with many healthy athletes.”
After walking a few steps, Wu Hao continued with a smile: "It looks good, but these are just prostheses for legs and feet. At present, these prostheses only replace the most basic leg and foot functions of disabled people, and are far less flexible than real limbs.
Compared with legs and feet, our hands are more flexible. This is why until now, hand prostheses are mainly immobile simulation models. The biggest role of wearing them is not to replace the functional role of the original limbs.
But to cover up shame and comfort in the heart.
The biggest reason for this is that compared to legs and feet, our arms and hands are too flexible and powerful.
Many technology companies and medical companies have also launched such prostheses with certain functions that can be used for scientific research activities. But these are just rare, and most of them have not left the laboratory, let alone commercial use."
"Yes, as we demonstrated before, we have created a robotic arm that is the same size as our real human arms and hands, has full functions, is flexible and lightweight.
Everyone has also seen the demonstration just now, which is very good. But is this really enough? Can such a robotic arm really be installed on the bodies of our disabled people to truly replace their incomplete limb functions."
Wu Hao shook his head, then sighed and said: "We have solved the complex mechanical structure of the robotic arm, the super difficult motion control system, and we have also developed a super solid-state battery that can independently support its long-term operation.
But there is still a problem that cannot be solved, and that is how to install this robotic arm, or what we call an electronic prosthesis, on the human body.
To put it bluntly, it is how to let our disabled people wear and control this robotic arm."
After glancing at everyone, Wu Hao continued: "There are currently many technical theories in this area, and the most accepted and recognized one is brain-computer interaction technology, which is what we commonly call mind control technology."
"How do we control our hands?" Wu Hao asked everyone, waving his hands again and again.
Hearing this question, the onlookers couldn't help but move their arms and observe them.
"Use your brain!" an audience member shouted back involuntarily.
Hahahaha... everyone at the scene laughed.
Wu Hao smiled and nodded: "Yes, it is controlled by our brain. Scientifically speaking, it is our cerebellum that controls the movement of our human body.
The part of the central nervous system that controls movement, what we call the cerebellum, sends instructions to the spinal nerves. After receiving the instructions, the spinal nerves "reply" the instructions from the brain upwards, and at the same time execute the instructions from the brain and control various processes.
Branches motor nerves to produce movement.
Based on this theory, scientists and some medical experts have proposed three methods of controlling this electronic prosthesis, which can be said to have brought new hope to disabled patients."
"Three kinds?" Everyone looked puzzled.
Wu Hao nodded and smiled: "Yes, there are three types. First of all, the first one is called brain-computer control technology, which is mind control.
Our human brains produce different brain waves when we think about different things, and brain-computer control technology uses these different brain waves to achieve the purpose of controlling operations. We already have such technology on the market, such as
The research team has demonstrated that using brain-computer control technology to type can reach an input speed of seventy words per minute, which is no slower than our hands.
There are also some research and development teams that have developed wheelchairs specifically controlled by thoughts to help patients with high paralysis and ALS.
So can we use this brain-computer control technology to control the robotic arm with thoughts? In this way, with a brief training and adaptation, the robotic arm can move as the user wishes.
The second technology uses special sensing equipment to collect movement bioelectrical signals in our cerebellum transmission tract and spinal nerves, thereby controlling the robotic arm.
In other words, our wearer can wear a special vest, or directly attach the sensor to the spine on the back. This is both beautiful and very convenient to match.
As for the third technology, that is to connect the control nerves in the robotic arm to the nerves at the broken limb through surgery. In this way, the original nerves can control the movement of the robotic arm. Isn’t it science fiction?
"
Hahahaha... After hearing his question, everyone burst into laughter and applauded. While applauding, everyone was also sighing at the scientists' fantastic ideas.
After Wu Hao waited for everyone to calm down, he smiled and said: "These three technologies are not actually antagonistic, on the contrary, they are suitable for people with different disabilities.
For example, the third technology can be used for patients with half-cut or partial injuries. This can not only greatly reduce costs, but also restore limb movement ability to the greatest extent.
The second technology can be used for disabled patients with total amputation. Such patients cannot undergo surgical connection, so they need to use this technology to perform external connection.
As for the first type, it is used for patients with more severe paralysis or patients with spinal injuries.
Of course, this classification cannot be generalized, and you still have to make a choice based on the actual situation."