能被意念控制的假肢（在线收听）

能被意念控制的假肢

Scientists and engineers are making substantial advances towards the ultimate goal in prosthetics – creation of limbs that can be controlled by the wearer’s mind. Thanks to sophisticated sensors capable of picking up the brain’s signals, an amputee in Iceland is literally bringing us one step closer to that goal.

It looks very natural when Gummi Olafsson moves his prosthetic leg.

当奥拉夫松活动他的义肢时，一切看起来非常自然。

“It took me about 10 minutes to get control of it. I could stand up and just walk away," said Olafsson.

“我花了10分钟时间来控制它，我现在能站起来走路了。”

Olafsson says it feels as if he is moving it with his own muscles.

奥拉夫松说感觉像是在使用自己的肌肉。

Last year, tiny sensors developed by the U.S.-based Alfred Mann Foundation were implanted in the muscle tissue left over when his lower right leg had to be removed ten years ago.

去年，总部在美国的阿尔弗雷德·曼基金会开发的微型传感器被植入他右腿仅存的肌肉内，10年前，奥拉夫松右腿的下部分被切除。

Orthopedic surgeon Thorvaldur Ingvarsson performed the operation.

整形外科医生索瓦迪尔·英瓦松为他做了手术。

“We put sensors into the muscles, and the muscles would pick up the signals, and the signals move their way into the prosthetics, and then the prosthetics react as your brain wants," said Ingvarsson.

“我们将传感器植入肌肉内，肌肉就能收到信号，信号就会传递到义肢上，然后义肢就根据大脑的指令做出反应。”

Implanted sensors have been used before, but Ingvarsson says this is the first time the amputee has been able to move the bionic leg without intensely focusing on the task.

以前已经使用过植入的传感器，但英瓦松说，被截肢者无需强烈的关注任务就能移动放生腿，这还是第一次。

Olafsson says with practice he is increasingly getting better control of his artificial limb.

英瓦松说，随着练习的增多，他就能越来越好地控制义肢。

“Every day you're learning more about how to walk properly with the foot, how to use it to go downhill, uphill, downstairs, upstairs, even sitting down and standing up from a chair," he said.

“每天你都会学到更多如何用脚更自如地走路，如何使用它来下山、上山、下楼梯、上楼梯，甚至做到椅子上或从椅子上站起。”

Another orthopedic patient in Iceland has had similar results while earlier this year three patients in Austria started using the same technology to control their bionic hands.

冰岛的另一位整形外科患者也有了类似的结果，今年早些时候，澳大利亚的三名患者开始使用同样的科技来控制其仿生手臂。

Researchers say the next step is developing bionic limbs that will allow prosthetics users to actually feel what they touch.

研究者称下一步是开发能让义肢使用者感到所触摸物体的仿生手臂。