This question is oriented towards our current state of technology in prosthesis, and technology to help the deaf and blind. I've been wondering why medical science has been unable to come up with an effective mechanical axon/neuron, or array of axons/neurons? Maybe I'm oversimplifying this, but my assumption is that it shouldn't be too terribly difficult. We can obviously detect neurological activity (since we know it exists). We can obviously detect the activity from an individial axon/neuron junction. We can even measure the amplitude (I think it's something like ~.05 microvolts if I remember correctly). A signal travelling accross a nerve junction is simply an on/off transaction. I assume we should be able to observe transactions for a long enough period of time to figure out the pattern. Once the pattern (sequence of on off transactions) is understood, then the imput/output can be translated into binary language. Here is another example to explain this further. Lets say a normal person has an his arm extended, and has the hand in a fist. The person then sticks out the thumb and wiggles it around. To do this, there should be a stream of data (pattern of on/off activity used as instructions to regulate muscle control) travelling accross junctions as output from the brain, and a series of incoming patterns (sensory data like temperature and feedback from the muscle activity itself) travelling accross junctions as input. Let's replace the hand with an emulation made from a series of hydraulic pistons and servos (a prosthetic cyber hand if you will). As long as we knew what the input/output transaction was supposed to look like-- that being a pattern of ~.05 microvolt firings across the junction, then it should be relatively easy to make the prosthesis read the input, translate the input into motion, and output the required patterns accross the junctions. This seems simple to me. I feel like machine to limb replacement should be commonplace nowadays, but I've noticed that nobody is doing it yet. Can someone explain the problems involved, or correct my assumptions if I'm missing something?
We are able to inplant sensors in the brain that can transmit input and output sensors instantaneously. But if you know of any research that is able to do this over a long range distance, please let me know. When my right arm became paralyzied, I immediately underwent micro-neural surgery to restore the nerve endings in my arm. From my brachial plexus in my shoulder (to the tip of my arm), I was told that it would take 3 years to regenirate: and it did. After the first year my sublexed humurus bone pulled back into the shoulder socket - this took one year. After that the results decreased because of the continuous atrophy that you have in your muscles and nerves due to lack of use, or as in my case, no nerve inervation.
Why over long range distance? Can you explain more (I'm assuming there may be an issue with ping times/latency)?
