Helping hands

摘要

In the field of medical rehabilitation, robots Can act as external aids to assist people in such tasks as lifting a fork or spoon. But what if robots could be used to retrain the human nervous system? Many brain-injured patients might one day relearn to perform coordinated tasks on their own. Working toward this goal in the Sensory Motor Performance Program at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago is James Patton, a neuroscientist who combines his medical training with a background in mechanical engineering. Patton and a team that includes therapists, doctors, and others at the institute are working with robots in the hope of training people to regain control over their movements. The research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, specifically the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.