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That is the target of a project at the University of Bristol, one of 100 potentially transformative research schemes to receive a share of £80m government funding today (6 December).
The Bristol work, led by Dr Ben Ward-Cherrier, aims to tackle a key limitation of existing prostheses by developing tailored neuro-signals. Those signals could improve the sense of touch for people with prosthetic arms, registering the texture and slipperiness of objects they touch.
“Restoring a natural sense of touch to upper-limb amputees relies on a comprehensive understanding of how tactile signals are encoded in our nervous system,” Dr Ward-Cherrier said.
“This project will be a hugely important step in decoding these tactile signals and demonstrating a proof-of-principle system connecting tactile sensors to individual sensory neurons.
“I'm very excited to be working on this topic alongside talented clinicians and world-leading experts in microstimulation at the University of Aix-Marseille.”
Integrating a natural-feeling sense of touch into artificial arms “would boost the quality of life for millions of amputees and others born without limbs across the world, while also supporting robotics,” the government announcement said.
Other projects to receive backing from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) include work at the University of Southampton to develop a radar-based prototype able to recognise and translate British Sign Language hand movements. By avoiding use of cameras, the project led by Dr Shelly Vishwakarma aims to protect users’ privacy while enabling them to use virtual assistants like Amazon’s Alexa.
Another project at the University of Bristol aims to understand the behaviour of polyelectrolyte gels, which could be useful for advanced robotics, drug delivery, water purification and energy storage.
At the University of Edinburgh, a project will focus on exploiting next generation X-ray sources for extreme conditions research, while work at Loughborough University will support development of smart polymer nanoparticles that could be used for drug delivery and medical imaging.
Researchers at University College London will investigate ‘human-centred machine intelligence’ to optimise robotic surgical training.
Science minister Lord Patrick Vallance said: “We are backing 100 ambitious projects up and down the UK, which could spark the beginning of a new generation of life-changing developments, from more comfortable and effective prosthetic arms to earlier detection and prevention of blood clots. It is vital we support bright researchers to explore a new generation of discoveries.”
Professor Charlotte Deane, EPSRC’s executive chair, said: “Discovery science is the bedrock of innovation, feeding the pipeline of progress critical to prosperity, sustainability, security, competitiveness, quality of life and resilience to future challenges.
“It’s always been a UK strength and EPSRC has always been at the forefront of maintaining and extending this. Utilising and enhancing expertise in all parts of the country, these new EPSRC-backed projects will generate a legacy of extraordinary new knowledge, with impacts felt across the UK and the globe.”
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