<story><title>Paralysed man moves in mind-reading exoskeleton</title><url>https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-49907356</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>pweezy</author><text>It must feel odd and incredibly difficult to control an exoskeleton (or any motion restoring device) without any proprioceptive or tactile feedback. I imagine it&amp;#x27;s like having someone else move your limbs, or for a paraplegic, like using your arms to move your legs.&lt;p&gt;If we find a way to trigger those sensations, perhaps with separate brain implants, it would be a huge breakthrough and make learning to control the device much faster.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m sure that&amp;#x27;s far from an easy task, though.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>velox_io</author><text>It&amp;#x27;s not so different from an electric wheelchair, the major difference is that your eye-line isn&amp;#x27;t crotch height. Plus, there&amp;#x27;s no reason they cannot add some type of haptic feedback. It doesn&amp;#x27;t even need to be natural or realistic as the body&amp;#x2F; brain will adjust.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m a disabled person myself (I prefer to use crutches as the world isn&amp;#x27;t built for wheelchairs, that&amp;#x27;s another topic). I&amp;#x27;ve been injured since 2012 and they now feel like an extension of myself (a little like having really long arms, I use them to push buttons&amp;#x2F; switches and grab stuff). Now trying to walk without them feels VERY alien (and I often fall over if I put too much weight on my injured leg). With crutches; I walk faster than most people (they have suspension!), can climb stairs easier than somebody who is obese, even on days I can&amp;#x27;t even put my foot on the ground let alone weight-bear. The biggest limitation is the lack of hands to carry stuff.&lt;p&gt;The point I was making is that while aids&amp;#x2F; devices may seem primitive and a poor substitute for what they&amp;#x27;re trying to replace, the difference they can make to an individual can be huge!&lt;p&gt;Repairing nerve damage is one of the last frontiers of modern medicine, but it is advancing, slowly...</text></comment>
<story><title>Paralysed man moves in mind-reading exoskeleton</title><url>https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-49907356</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>pweezy</author><text>It must feel odd and incredibly difficult to control an exoskeleton (or any motion restoring device) without any proprioceptive or tactile feedback. I imagine it&amp;#x27;s like having someone else move your limbs, or for a paraplegic, like using your arms to move your legs.&lt;p&gt;If we find a way to trigger those sensations, perhaps with separate brain implants, it would be a huge breakthrough and make learning to control the device much faster.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m sure that&amp;#x27;s far from an easy task, though.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>yomly</author><text>Dunno - we&amp;#x27;re very good at filling in the gaps&lt;p&gt;I remember when playing the original PS3 my brain was imaging vibrations in the controller when the screen rumbled (back when the original controllers had no haptic feedback)&lt;p&gt;Obviously it would be better to provide more feedback but I am bullish on humans being able to adapt and the brain finding means of &amp;quot;faking&amp;quot; feedback or finding second order proxies</text></comment>