Presentation description

Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) is a non-invasive method of stimulating the nerves in the body, eliciting various sensations by inducing a current across electrodes placed on the surface of the skin. Using electrodes placed on the wrist, it is possible to create sensations in different areas of the hand via the median and ulnar nerves, but creating these sensations in specific areas with precision has been a struggle. Additionally, undesired sensations tend to be created in the wrist at the site of the electrodes. Trying to advance this technology and minimize these issues has largely been an effort of trial and error fueled by educated guesses.
Instead of continuing to use electrode layouts chosen arbitrarily, we created models of the wrist and electrodes in 2D and 3D simulation programs to analyze the electric field created in the wrist and how that field changed due to a variety of different variables. This allowed us to gain a better understanding of electrode behavior by seeing how electrode shape, size, and distance between electrodes influence the resulting electric field. Using three or more electrodes has been explored as a way to help shape the path of the electric current through the body, potentially more precisely targeting the nerves, but predicting how the electric field behaves in these scenarios is difficult. However now we have run simulations with three electrodes, making it more viable without being dependent on trial and error.
Our research has the potential to inform future electrode layout designs, likely making them more effective. Getting this technology to a usable state, creating more naturalistic senses in more precise parts of the hand, holds great potential for upper limb prosthetics. Currently, hand and arm prosthetics have been held back by their inability to provide sensory feedback, making tasks which require precision and fine motor skills much more difficult for their users. This can also be applied to VR and AR technology, giving interactions with a virtual world the ability to provide sensory feedback.