Tactile Diagnostics and Encoding | Research Capability & Technology Portfolio

Creating technologies to build a human interface to artificial touch sensors that is non-invasive, robust, cost-effective, and safe. The technology could be applied to restore touch to amputees with a prosthetic hand or make early diagnosis of nerve damage resulting from chemotherapy or diabetes.

Competitive advantage

Neural translation system uses trained artificial neurons based on nerve signal recordings from actual individual human tactile receptors encoding different aspects of object manipulation
Enabling patients to experience touch without requiring extensive training or brain plasticity
Unique pulsatile mechanical stimulation approach
Technology is non-invasive, which makes it cheaper, safer, easier to test and get approved, easier to upgrade and repair, and avoids patients needing to make a decision about the risk/benefit of surgery

Impact

Early detection of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) provides opportunities for treatment modification before permanent life-long damage ensues
Providing tactile feedback could significantly improve acceptance of prosthetic hands by users and therefore improve rehabilitation outcomes and the quality of life of amputees

Successful outcomes

Successfully conveyed tactile sense and supported direction judgements in small-scale trial
Early evidence from rat studies that chemotherapy-induced nerve damage in non-symptomatic animals can be detected

Capabilities and facilities

Skills in recording neu