Overview
- Researchers reported Thursday that a Nature Sensors paper describes magnetomicrometry in three below-knee amputees who had agonist-antagonist myoneural interface surgery.
- The technique implants pairs of roughly 3 mm magnetic beads into muscles and uses an external sensor array to measure changes in distance so the system can infer muscle motion.
- In controlled cursor tasks the magnetic measurements produced more accurate and more stable control than skin-surface electrodes and matched or exceeded implanted electromyography.
- The team is now running a larger study to evaluate real-world use with actual prosthetic limbs and to assess safety, implant durability, and daily-life performance.
- The work builds on prior 2021 animal demonstrations and implanted-electrode research and could offer a less invasive path to prosthetic control if long-term biocompatibility and walking-phase performance are confirmed.