The kick-off meeting of the winning project of the FET Open Horizon 2020 call
5th November 2020 – The SOMA project, led by the prof Loredana Zollo, head of the Advanced Robotics and Person-Centered Technologies Unit (I CREATE Lab), funded by the EU and winner of the FET call Open Horizon 2020. A study that faces various challenges in the field of upper limb neuroprostheses, because it aims to develop low-invasive bidirectional interface solutions with the peripheral nervous system for prosthetic applications, placing itself as an alternative to neural electrodes, which instead require to be surgically implanted in the nerves of the amputee. The heart of the project is the use of miniaturized ultrasound probes used both for myoelectric control of the prosthesis and for restoring a complex of sensations and aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of the interface developed on an amputee.
The first meeting between UCBM and the six partners involved in the SOMA project: the research sees the collaboration of an international network which includes the Fraunhofer-Institut für Biomedizinische Technik engaged in the development of ultrasound probes, theUniversity College of London responsible for the development of miniaturized electronics, theImperial College London involved in the study of myoelectric control of the prosthesis, theUniversity of Naples Federico II, for the experimental verification of the ultrasound interfaces on an in vitro model of the muscle and the somatosensory system, theautonomous University of Barcelona, for the animal model study e Össur, a world leader in the production of prostheses.
UCBM is responsible for the development of the sensorized prosthesis and the coding techniques of somatic sensations and stimulation through ultrasound probes, as well as the integration and validation of the SOMA prosthetic system, comparing it with both transcutaneous and neural state-of-the-art stimulation techniques. The Unit of Robotica, in collaboration with the Clinical Units of Neurology, Orthopedics e Physical medicine and rehabilitation, will then coordinate the final experimentation on humans.
The virtual appointment defined the first actions to be taken to achieve the ambitious objectives of the project: the prostheses will be able to feel and transmit tactile, thermal and even pain sensitivity to the amputee. To allow such sensory and motor control of upper limb prostheses, the researchers plan to develop an in vitro model of muscle and skin equipped with nerve endings. The study of the spatio-temporal relationships between cutaneous stimuli and neural signals will help scientists apply ultrasound stimulation to the peripheral nervous system. For this purpose the project makes use of the most advanced technology ingengineering in the field of tissues and computational modeling, integrated synergistically with the most advanced hardware and software technologies in the field of neuroprosthetics and implantable devices.