Descripción del proyecto
Introducir en el mercado una interfaz cerebro-ordenador innovadora
Una interfaz cerebro-ordenador es una tecnología que permite la comunicación directa entre el encéfalo y un dispositivo externo, a menudo una prótesis. Esta interfaz facilita la traducción de la actividad neuronal en órdenes que pueden controlar estos dispositivos. Financiado por el Consejo Europeo de Investigación, el proyecto MYTI se basa en la tecnología de interfaz cerebro-ordenador desarrollada anteriormente, que utiliza imanes permanentes implantados en el músculo para descodificar las contracciones musculares y controlar las prótesis de los miembros superiores. En el proyecto se optimizarán los parámetros tecnológicos y las implantaciones de imanes, al tiempo que se abordarán diversos retos relacionados con la usabilidad a largo plazo de la interfaz cerebro-ordenador. Tras la validación exhaustiva de los ensayos clínicos, el equipo se preparará para comercializar la tecnología.
Objetivo
MYTI - MYokinetic Towards Innovation, aims at boosting the clinical translation of the technology developed within the ERC funded project MYKI - A Bidirectional MyoKinetic Implanted Interface for Natural Control of Artificial Limbs. Core of the project is an innovative human-machine-interface for the control of upper-limb prostheses, which relies on a multitude of permanent magnets implanted within the residual muscles. Briefly, external electronic components acquire the magnetic field of the magnets, retrieve their displacement resulting from muscle contraction, and subsequently decode the user’s intention to control multiple degrees of freedom of the prosthesis in a natural and intuitive way. The MYKI project led to the successful first-in-human clinical demonstration of the interface: one participant received the short-term (six-week) implantation of multiple magnets and was fitted with a self-contained myokinetic prosthesis. In just six weeks, the participant achieved performance comparable to those achieved with standard-of-care solutions. Building on the know-how acquired within MYKI, MYTI will address the weaknesses uncovered by past research, and push forward the advancement of the solution for its adoption into standard-of-care settings. Practically, it will address the open challenges related to the long-term usability of the interface, to enable extensive long-term clinical trials necessary to validate the technology, while laying the foreground for its future commercialization.
The translation from research towards innovation will be achieved through three main objectives: (i) the identification of a magnet coating material suitable for chronic applications; (ii) the effective insertion of the magnets inside the muscles, through the development of a dedicated surgical injector to be used under ultrasound guidance; (iii) the conduction of an in-depth market research and the definition of an IPR strategy aimed at the future technology commercialization.
Ámbito científico
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
HORIZON-ERC-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept GrantsInstitución de acogida
56127 Pisa
Italia