Session C3
Paper #6055
Disclaimer — This paper partially fulfills a writing requirement for first year (freshman) engineering students at the University
of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering. This paper is a student, not a professional, paper. This paper is based on
publicly available information and may not be provide complete analyses of all relevant data. If this paper is used for any
purpose other than these authors’ partial fulfillment of a writing requirement for first year (freshman) engineering students at
the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, the user does so at his or her own risk.
FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS: REVISED PROPOSAL
AND ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abhilash Dhanvada, abd49@pitt.edu, Lora 6:00, Ganesh Kumar, gak36@pitt.edu, Bursic 2:00
Revised Proposal — Wars still rage throughout the world,
resulting in numerous soldiers putting their lives on the line
for their countries. In the United States alone, over 1500
soldiers have become amputees serving their country in just
the past 15 years [1]. This number needs to brought down to
zero. The countless conflicts that still seethe is a matter for
politicians, however, the engineering community can still do
their part. Those who protect our country deserve the highest
level of care and commitment to their rehabilitation. The high
level of traumatic casualties that have occurred has
emphasized the need for technological advancements in the
fields of artificial limbs and prosthetics. In this paper, we will
highlight the projects that have been focused on updating
artificial limbs by way of touch-sensitive artificial skin and
then delve deeper into the project that has shown the most
promise. In addition, we will address the ethics revolving
around artificial skin and explain the significance of this
technology with respect to our chosen engineering field.
In order to integrate prosthetics with touch-sensitive
capabilities, engineers are working on a technology called the
skin
inspired
organic
digital
mechanoreceptor.
Mechanoreceptors are sense organs are cells that respond to
mechanical stimuli such as touch and sound. The
mechanoreceptor then sends these messages to the brain,
which processes and organizes all or the information. Regular
skin works by relying on the cutaneous mechanoreceptors that
output digital signals for tactile sensing in which the intensity
of stimulation is converted into a series of voltage pulses [2].
The organic digital mechanoreceptor is made of three parts: a
micro structured resistive pressure sensor, flexible printed
organic electronic circuits, and nerve cells containing light
activated ion channels [3]. To mimic the effects of the skin’s
cutaneous mechanoreceptors, the pressure sensors change
conductance in response to applied pressures [3]. The sensors
are connected to the electronic circuits which convert the
pressure signals into a series of electrical pulses and increases
the pulse frequency in response to increasing pressure [3].
The electrical pulses modulate the frequency of a lightemitting diode which sends light from the LED through an
optical fiber to stimulate neurons in the brain [3]. This work
represents a step toward the design and use of large-area
organic electronic skins with neural-integrated touch
feedback for replacement limbs.
University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering 1
2016/01/29
The reason that we believe that this technology should be
developed is because we want to help amputees. In the United
States, there are more than two million people who are
amputees [4]. Amputees generally use prosthetics that restore
a degree of function, but inadequate tactile feedback is the
leading shortcoming of these prosthetic limbs. For artificial
hands, a few sensors that relay grasp pressure back to the user
can provide the functionality needed to enable delicate tasks.
The technological update made to these prosthetics by fitting
them with the mechanoreceptors will be beneficial. We
believe that the new prosthetics equipped with the
mechanoreceptors are more comfortable to use, improve
mobility and independence for disabled people, enhance
motor control skills, and relieve phantom limb pain associated
with limb loss.
REFERENCES
[1] H. Fischer. (2015, August). “A Guide to U.S. Military
Casualty Statistics.” Congressional Research Service. (online
article). https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22452.pdf
[2] W. Bae, Z. Bao, A. Berndt, et al. “A Skin-Inspired Organic
Digital Mechanoreceptor.” Science. (online article).
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/350/6258/313.full
[3] C. Arnaud. “Artificial Skin Sends Touching Signals to
Nerve Cells.” Scientific American. (Online Article).
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/artificial-skinsends-touching-signals-to-nerve-cells/
[4] R. Brookmeyer, P. Ephraim, K. MacKenzie, et al. (2008,
March). “Estimating the Prevalence of limb loss in the United
States.” Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
(online article). http://www.archives-pmr.org/article/S00039993(07)01748-0/abstract
BIBLIOGRAPHY
P. Anikeeva, R. Koppes. (2015, October). “Restoring the
Sense
of
Touch.”
Science.
(Online
Article).
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/350/6258/274.full
This article, from the world’s foremost, peer-reviewed
academic journals published by the AAAS, references the
report published by the Stanford research group heading our
Abhilash Dhanvada
Ganesh Kumar
topic’s research. The article peer-reviews the report and
discusses the implementation, limitation, and success criteria
of this new technology. Information from this article will be
used to expose the thoughts and ideas that other engineers
have about this technology as well as the challenges that this
technology faces.
amputees living in the U.S. This article focuses on the number
of amputees living in the U.S. during 2008 meaning the
number is considerably higher. Information from this article
will provide us with exact numbers to provide further support
for why we need our technology.
H. Fischer. (2015, August). “A Guide to U.S. Military
Casualty Statistics.” Congressional Research Service.
(Online
Article).
https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22452.pdf
This article, from a government research service
specializing in U.S. military casualty statistics, provides
information about the number of amputees that come back
from the war. This article focuses on the wars that are fought
in the Middle East. Information from this article will provide
us with specific numbers that can be used to further prove why
we need our technology.
C. Arnaud. “Artificial Skin Sends Touching Signals to Nerve
Cells.”
Scientific
American.
(Online
Article).
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/artificial-skinsends-touching-signals-to-nerve-cells/
This article, from a peer-reviewed journal specializing in
topics of science, provides information on the individual parts
that make up the Organic Digital Mechanoreceptor. This
article focuses on the process of how the sensor can detect
sensations of touch and relay them to the brain. Information
from this article will provide us with the ability to further
explain how this device works.
D. Johnson. (2015, October 15). “The Artificial Skin That
Could Deliver the Sense of Touch Directly to the Brain”.
IEEE
Spectrum.
(Online
Article).
http://spectrum.ieee.org/nanoclast/biomedical/bionics/prosth
etic-artificial-skin-delivers-the-sense-of-touch-directly-tothe-brain
This article - published, peer-reviewed, and edited by the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers - describes
the new development of tactility-enabled artificial skin. The
article gives the reader a well-rounded synopsis of the topic
in a way that is easy to understand for those without technical
knowledge. Information from this article will be used to
inform readers about the inspiration behind our topic as well
aid in explaining the topic in layman’s terms for our readers’
benefit.
W. Bae, Z. Bao, A. Berndt, et al. “A Skin-Inspired Organic
Digital Mechanoreceptor.” Science. (Online Article).
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/350/6258/313.full
This article, from an online report written by professionals
in the topic of organic mechanoreceptors, provides
information how these receptors are constructed and used.
This article focuses on how to mimic human skin and
stimulate pulses in accordance with pressure levels in order to
artificially regain the sense of touch. Information from this
article will provide us with the techniques that researchers
used in order to create this device.
“Biomedical Engineering Society Code of Ethics.”
Biomedical Engineering Society. (2004, February). (Online
Document).
http://bmes.org/files/2004%20Approved%20%20Code%20o
f%20Ethics(2).pdf
This document, published by the Biomedical Engineering
Society, defines the guidelines by which those in the
biomedical profession must conduct themselves. This
document presents specifics about the ethical and moral
issues faced by biomedical engineers and the subsequent steps
one must take to address such issues. Information from this
document will be used to discuss and hypothesize about any
ethically questionable issues that may arise from the
development of tactility-enabled artificial skin.
“Reverse Engineer the Brain”. National Academy of
Engineering.
(2016).
(Online
Article).
http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/challenges/9109.aspx
This article, released by the NAE which advises the federal
government from an engineering perspective, sets out one of
fourteen Grand Challenges that the engineering community
faces in this century. The article explains the need for reverse
engineering the brain in order to bring forth advancements in
communication, manufacturing, and most importantly,
healthcare. Information from this article will be used to
exemplify the relevance of our chosen topic to the engineering
community as a whole.
R. Brookmeyer, P. Ephraim, K. MacKenzie, et al. (2008,
March). “Estimating the Prevalence of limb loss in the United
States.” Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
(Online Article). http://www.archives-pmr.org/article/S00039993(07)01748-0/abstract
This article, from a research paper that focused on
estimating the number of U.S. citizens living with certain
conditions, provides information about the number of
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