# Robotic parts connected to the body--how?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robotic-parts-connected-to-the-body-how/666007>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 12, 2013, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robotic-parts-connected-to-the-body-how/666007 "2013-08-12T04:39:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![IMfez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f07891/32.png) [@IMfez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IMfez)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robotic-parts-connected-to-the-body-how/666007/1 "2013-08-12T04:39:48Z")

</div>

Hi; I’m curious how robotic parts are connected to the human body. I imagine it would be tough to connect a human nervous system, controlled by the mind, into lifeless electronics! Not to mention the infection risks at the connection points…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robotic-parts-connected-to-the-body-how/666007/2 "2013-08-12T04:47:09Z")

</div>

Some basic background:

> **[Prosthesis | Robotic prostheses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_limbs#Robotic_prostheses)**
>
> Robots can be used to generate objective measures of patient's impairment and therapy outcome, assist in diagnosis, customize therapies based on patient's motor abilities, and assure compliance with treatment regimens and maintain patient's records. It is shown in many studies that there is a significant improvement in upper limb motor function after stroke using robotics for upper limb rehabilitation.
> In order for a robotic prosthetic limb to work, it must have several components to integrat A d...

> **[Neuroprosthetics | Motor prosthetics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_prosthetics#Motor_prosthetics)**
>
> Devices which support the function of autonomous nervous system include the implant for bladder control. In the somatic nervous system attempts to aid conscious control of movement include Functional electrical stimulation and the lumbar anterior root stimulator.

> **[Brain–computer interface](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain-computer_interface)**
>
> A brain–computer interface (BCI), sometimes called a brain–machine interface (BMI) or smartbrain, is a direct communication pathway between the brain's electrical activity and an external device, most commonly a computer or robotic limb. BCIs are often directed at researching, mapping, assisting, augmenting, or repairing human cognitive or sensory-motor functions. They are often conceptualized as a human–machine interface that skips the intermediary component of the physical movement of body p

Basically, decades of animal testing have allowed scientists to identify neurological patterns in the brain that roughly correspond to certain body part movements. They can monitor that and make artificial limbs that try to move the right way. Or sometimes systems like exoskeletons can be controlled by whatever motions you’re still capable of making, whether that’s partially lifting a limb, or perhaps trying to move what’s left of a(nother) limb. Here’s [video of a robotic exoskeletal walker that’s controlled by a wrist remote](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imfe4v3Tthc).

As for infection risks, well, I imagine it’d be no different from any other sort of invasive implant using [biocompatible](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biocompatible) materials.