Brain-Machine Interfaces: Lessons for Prosthetic Hand Control

Brain-machine interfaces (BMI) are being developed to restore upper limb function for persons with spinal cord injury or other motor degenerative conditions. BMI and implantable sensors for myoelectric prostheses directly extract information from the central or peripheral nervous system to provide users with high fidelity control of their prosthetic device. Control algorithms have been highly transferable between the 2 technologies but also face common issues. In this review of the current state of the art in each field, the authors point out similarities and differences between the 2 technologies that may guide the implementation of common solutions to these challenges.