2023-09-26 01:45:08
The Professor-Researcher of Electromechanics of the Deanery of Design, Science and Technology of the Autonomous University of Guadalajara (UAG), Dr. Erick Guzmán Quezada, patented a device that allows a easier use of prosthesis for people who have lost an upper limb such as arms, forearms, hands and fingers, because it works through voice commands.
The patent was obtained thanks to the support of the Council of Science and Technology of Jalisco (COECYTJAL), the process began 5 years ago and in 2023 it was obtained before the Mexican Institute of Intellectual Property (IMPI).
This is the first patent that the Professor-Researcher registers and he did so under the name: “Electromyograph set and upper extremity myoelectric prosthesis controlled by voice and myoelectric signals.”
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The idea of this development was because the prostheses that currently exist are not sufficient to control the movements required by the person who uses them.
“Based on the development of devices and prostheses dedicated to people who have suffered an upper limb amputation, the patent consists of a prosthetic control system. This is a technology that allows people to use their prostheses more easily and a system with voice commands was integrated to be able to use them.”
He added that today there are many ways to control prostheses. The natural one is what the human body does through brain commands that travel through the spinal cord to the extremity. The problem is that when people lose a limb, the instruction no longer reaches the final recipient.
The patent developed by the UAG researcher consists of the prosthesis being equipped with a microphone, which records the voice command and performs the function indicated by the person using it.
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And the most advanced prostheses on the market work through electromyography or electrical impulses generated by the muscles, but the problem is that it becomes very complex to use, since people require a lot of instructions and training.
“In this case what was done was to integrate a different system, electromyography is also used, but with voice commands. Currently we use Artificial Intelligence on a daily basis, but by integrating these voice commands we greatly facilitate the instructions or tasks that we want a prosthesis to perform.”
How does it work?
The prosthesis has a microphone, which listens to a word that can affect one of the joints, elbow, wrist or hand, and at the moment of decoding this word it begins to read the muscular activity of a single muscle, at the moment of reading that activity it The joint of the prosthesis that you want to control begins to contract.
Recently, the Laboratories for the Development of Medical Devices were inaugurated at the UAG, which have the support of the Government of Jalisco and the Biomedical Engineering Cluster, to promote the creation of technology for the biomedical industry.
Importance of patents
Mexico has a patent deficit and does not have a culture dedicated to this topic, the professor wants to make a difference and promote it among students.
“Patents protect the work of inventors and scientists, business ideas can be marketed and developed; This in turn benefits our country.”
Created in the UAG laboratories, this class of devices is part of a series of projects that the institution has focused on for years in the search to create technology that innovates medicine and health services.
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