VOA标准英语2015--Mind-Controlled Prosthetics Are Getting Closer

Mind-Controlled Prosthetics Are Getting Closer

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 sensors¹ capable of picking up the brain’s signals, an amputee in Iceland is literally² bringing us one step closer to that goal.

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

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

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

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.

Orthopedic surgeon Thorvaldur Ingvarsson performed the operation.

“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.

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.

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

“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 standing³ up from a chair," he said.

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.

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

1 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

2 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

3 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。