The researchers say their gear has now accomplished a new level of artificial touch.
But theres much more that goes into feeling something than just those two aspects.
Without these rich sensations, artificial touch will remain highly impoverished, Valle told Gizmodo.
An illustration of the team’s technology, which combines a bionic limb with brain implants to reproduce more complex sensations of touch.© Chalmers University of Technology/Boid/ David Ljungberg
The researchers recruited two people with spinal cord injuries for their experiments.
The volunteers were then connected to a BCI machine that acted as a bionic limb.
This allowed for more vivid sensory feedback and experience while using a bionic hand.
These are still early days, the researchers note.
Although many challenges remain, this latest study offers evidence that the path to restoring touch is becoming clearer.
And their ultimate goal is to improve the independence and quality of life of people with disability.
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