How does the human brain run itself without any software? Find that out, say European researchers, and a whole new field of neural computing will open up. A prototype ‘brain on a chip’ is already working. “We know that the brain has amazing computational capabilities,” remarks Karlheinz Meier, a physicist at Heidelberg University. “Clearly there is something to learn from biology. I believe that the systems we are going to develop could form part of a new revolution in information technology.”

Engineer: Computer learning, electrical stimulation offer hope for paralyzed

http://news.ufl.edu/2009/03/18/muscle/

electrical stimulation — a simple, decades-old technique to prompt muscles to contract — can be combined with sophisticated computer learning technology to help people regain more precise, more life-like control of paralyzed limbs. Progress so far suggests computer-adapted electrical stimulation could one day help the estimated 700,000 Americans who suffer from strokes and the 11,000 who suffer from cord injuries annually. It’s an adaptive scheme to do electrical stimulation more efficiently, with less fatigue and more accuracy.

Extracting kinematic parameters for monkey bipedal walking from cortical neuronal ensemble activity

http://frontiersin.org/integrativeneuroscience/paper/10.3389/neuro.07/003.2009/html/

The ability to walk may be critically impacted as the result of neurological injury or disease. We demonstrate that chronic recordings from ensembles of cortical neurons can be used to predict the kinematics of bipedal walking in rhesus macaques – both offline and in real-time. As more complex patterns of walking were produced by varying the gait speed and direction, larger neuronal populations were needed to accurately extract walking patterns. We propose that BMIs may one day allow severely paralyzed patients to walk again.

The Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009 (RP2009) Program is an aggressive four year program funded by the Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The program seeks to develop a new generation of modular upper extremity limb systems, neural interface devices and clinical tools that will significantly improve patient acceptance and outcomes for upper extremity prosthetic users. The goal is to develop limbs that look, behave and are controlled more naturally than any prosthetic limbs to date. As a result, the team involves over 30 organizations and spans a full range of disciplines from engineering, scientific research, medicine and rehabilitation.

Stuart D. Harshbarger is a member of the Principal Professional Staff at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory where he is currently the Program Manager and Systems Integrator for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) sponsored Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009 Program. Stuart holds a BSEE from West Virginia Institute of Technology (1985), a MSEE from the US Naval Postgraduate School (1990), and an Advanced Certificate in Post Master's Studies in Applied Biomedical Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University (2004). Stuart's research interests and project thrusts include development of highly integrated “smart” prosthetic and assistive technology systems to restore function, prevent injury, and improve quality of life for the warfighter, first responders, and the aging civilian population.