The researchers worked with two patients with above-the-knee, or transfemoral, amputations. They used an Össur prosthetic leg, which comes with a microprocessor and an angle sensor in the knee joint, IEEE Spectrum explains. The team then added an insole with seven sensors to the foot. Those sensors transmit signals in real-time, via Bluetooth to a controller strapped to the user’s ankle. An algorithm in the controller encodes the feedback into neural signals and delivers that to a small implant in the patient’s tibial nerve, at the back of the thigh. The brain can then interpret those signals as feedback from the knee and foot.

The modified prosthetic helped the users walk faster, feel more confident and consume less oxygen — an indication that it was less strenuous than traditional prosthesis. The team also tested activating the tibial nerve implant to relieve phantom limb pain. Both patients saw a significant reduction in pain after a few minutes of electrical stimulation, but they had to be connected to a device in a lab to receive the treatment. With more testing, the researchers hope they might be able to bring these technologies to more amputees and make both available outside of the lab.

The “scalable tactile glove,” or STAG, is a simple knit glove packed with more than 550 tiny sensors. The researchers wore STAG while handling 26 different objects — including a soda can, scissors, tennis ball, spoon, pen and a mug. As they did, the sensors gathered pressure-signal data, which was interpreted by a neural network. The system predicted the objects’ identity on touch alone with up to 76 percent accuracy, and it was able to predict the weight of most objects within about 60 grams.

The data also allowed researchers to see how different regions of the hand work together. For instance, when someone uses the middle joint of their index finger, they rarely use their thumb. Information like that will be critical to helping robots handle items, and it could help customize prosthetics to specific tasks and objects. “We’ve always wanted robots to do what humans can do, like doing the dishes or other chores,” said MIT researcher Subramanian Sundaram. “If you want robots to do these things, they must be able to manipulate objects really well.”

This isn’t the first glove to gather pressure data in this way, but most cost thousands of dollars and contain closer to 50 sensors. STAG is made from commercially available materials, and it costs a mere $10 to produce. The glove is laminated with a conductive polymer, which changes resistance to applied pressure. Researchers sewed conductive thread through holes in the polymer, and the threads overlap in a way that turns them into pressure sensors.

This follows on the heels of MIT’s “RoboRaise,” which studies muscle activity so that robots can help humans lift things. And it adds to MIT’s other technology, like that which can control robots with brain signals and hand gestures. As this team perfects STAG, it will likely combined the glove with others sensors to give robots an even better sense of what they’re handling.