Project description
Natural prosthetic limbs
Robotic limbs have the potential to substitute missing or damaged limbs and significantly improve the quality of life of afflicted individuals. However, there are still major challenges associated with the bionic reconstruction of limbs. The EU-funded Natural BionicS initiative will combine innovations in surgery, neural interfacing and robotics to generate novel prosthetics that interface with spinal cord circuitries and offer tactile functions. Users will feel the bionic limb and be able to command it as part of their body. The Natural BionicS solution will offer an integrated replacement of human limbs adapted to each patient's individual needs.
Objective
Missing a limb leads to dramatic impairments in the capacity to move and interact with the environment and to a substantial worsening in quality of life. This deficiency is also associated with a large portion of the sensory-motor cortex facing neural deafness. Missing or damaged limbs can in principle be substituted by robotic limbs, connected to humans with neural interfacing. Despite massive research efforts, however, the bionic reconstruction of limbs currently faces important translational challenges. We aim at filling this gap between academic research and clinical impact with a patient-centric approach that synergistically combines breakthroughs in surgery (Aszmann), neural interfacing (Farina), and robotics (Bicchi). We propose to surgically create bio-connectors (compacted in a bio-hub) to access the spinal cord circuitries by using biological pathways of encoding and decoding neural information. Neural interfacing with the bio-hub will determine an input/output information flow with the spinal cord by decoding the activity of spinal neural cells (output) and stimulating transplanted biological afferent organs (input). The sensory-motor image of the missing limb emerging from this interfacing will be projected in soft robotic arms/legs that will embed kinematic synergies and tactile-proprioceptive functions, intimately matched with the neural sensory-motor synergies extracted from the bio-hub. In this way, Natural BionicS aims at creating a fully integrated, symbiotic replacement of human limbs with robotic parts that the user will feel and command as part of the body. This aim will be achieved with clinical translation aided by the establishment of a Bionic Clinical Board of the three PIs. Here the options of bionic reconstruction will be explored for each patient on a bi-monthly basis, the engineering solutions will be adapted to the clinical challenges, and patients will be identified who best profit from the radical new developments of Natural BionicS.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine surgery
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering robotics
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
ERC-SyG - Synergy grant
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2018-SyG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
SW7 2AZ London
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.