Scientists are getting closer to something that wouldn’t look out of place in a science fiction film: bionic limbs that can understand and touch their users.

In a new study published this week, researchers have debuted a bionic hand system that is reportedly capable of the most complex tactile sensations seen to date. Scientists at the Cortical Bionics Research Group developed a novel brain-computer interface (BCI) device, which was tested on volunteers with spinal cord injuries.

In a series of experiments, researchers were able to interpret and relay sensations tied to motion, curvature, and orientation that allowed volunteers to perform complex tasks with their bionic limb. The researchers say that their device has now developed a new level of artificial touch.

There are a few important progress in prosthetic and bionic limb technology in recent years, but these limbs are currently far from fully approximating the complex behavior of human touch. Some scientists have begun to use intracortical microstimulation (ICMS) in the somatosensory cortex of the brain to bridge this gap, because experiments have shown that such stimulation can produce vivid sensations on people’s skin. According to study researcher Giacomo Valle, however, early ICMS tests focused more on reproducing the location and intensity of the sensation. But there is more to the feeling of something than these two aspects.

“While the location and force of contact is a critical component of feedback, the sense of touch goes beyond this, also conveying information about texture, material properties, local contours, and about the movement of objects. skin matter. Without these rich sensations, artificial touch would remain impoverished,” Valle told Gizmodo in their new study. PUBLISHED Thursday at ScienceValle and his team believe they have made a significant step forward with ICMS.

The researchers recruited two people with spinal cord injuries for their experiments. The volunteers were first given brain implants in the sensory and motor regions of the brain that control the hands and arms. Through these implants, the researchers recorded and then interpreted the different patterns of electrical activity produced in the volunteers’ brains as they thought about using their paralyzed limbs. The volunteers were then connected to a BCI device that served as a bionic limb. With only their thoughts, volunteers can control the body part, which is equipped with sensors that communicate with brain implants. The researchers were able to interpret and transmit more complex sensations related to touch through the bionic limb to the brain implants of the volunteers.

“In this work, for the first time, research goes beyond anything previously done in the field of brain-computer interfaces—we express tactile sensations related to orientation, curvature, motion and 3D shapes for of a participant using a brain-controlled bionic limb,” said Valle, a bionics researcher at Chalmers University of Technology. “We found a way to type these ‘tactile messages’ through microstimulation using tiny electrodes in the brain, and we found a unique way to encode complex sensations. This allows for a clearer sensory feedback and experience while using the bionic hand.

The volunteers could not only feel more sensations like touching the edge of an object—these sensations felt as if they were from their own hands. The added input also appeared to make it easier for volunteers to perform complex tasks with the bionic limb more accurately, such as moving an object from one place to another. And this richness, says Valle, is “important for achieving the level of dexterity, maneuverability, and a more dimensional tactile experience typical of the human hand.”

It’s still early days, researchers say. More complex sensors and robotic technology, such as prosthetic skin, are needed to truly capture the sensations that researchers can now encode and convey to a user, Valle said, and the more advanced brain implants are also needed to increase the range of sensations that can be stimulated. But Valle and his team are optimistic that such advances are possible, and that a truly human-feeling bionic limb is within the realm of possibility.

“Although many challenges remain, this latest study offers evidence that the path to restoring touch is becoming clearer. With each new set of findings, we are getting closer to a future where a prosthetic body part is not just a functional tool, but a way to experience the world,” he said.

The immediate next phase of Valle and his team’s research is to test their BCI systems in more natural settings, such as patients’ homes. And their ultimate goal is to improve the independence and quality of life of people with disabilities.