Page 30 - 04_May-2025

PREVIOUS PAGE: Chris Neilson LEFT: Patrick Pilarski RIGHT: Chris Neilson and Michael Dawson at BLINCdev U of A
E DISCOVERED THIS IN A SPORTS
medicine program in his Stony Plain high school.
The teenager became fascinated by the nature
of the human body — and how to help it recover
from injury and illness. “Back in the ’90s I was thinking,
‘Wouldn’t it be cool to build robotics to augment human
abilities?” he says. “Fast forward … and I’m doing that exact
thing.”
Since 2014, Pilarski has co-led the University of Alberta’s
BLINC Lab — or Bionic Limbs for Improved Natural Control —
where they research, design and test cutting edge bionic limbs
for people who need them. Some patient research partners,
like Chris Neilson, who lost his arm in a mining accident, have
worked with the lab for over a decade. Along with co-leader
Dr. Jacqueline Hebert, a clinician at the Glenrose Rehabilitation
Hospital and professor of medicine at the University of Alberta,
Pilarski works with research participants to improve the lab’s
technology, while also collaborating with student researchers to
develop and troubleshoot the technologies.
Though prosthetics have existed since at least ancient Egypt,
and robotic prostheses have been commonly used since the
1960s, BLINC prosthetics use artificial intelligence to behave
more like a living limb, intuitively adapting to the rhythms of
life. “Since time immemorial, humans have integrated tools into
their daily lives,” says Pilarski, likening their advanced tech to
hammers and arrows. “And now, because of this rapid techno-
logical change in sensors, actuators, computing technologies,
machine learning technologies, something different has happened.
We can now think about our prostheses as collaborators in
living lives.”
Since its foundation in 2014, the BLINC lab has explored
some wackier possibilities, including an extendable, “go-go
gadget” forearm prostheses, and a wearable third arm that
comes out of the chest. As silly (or nightmarish) as these sound,
their limitless imagination has led the lab to innovative places.
Equipped with everything from 3D printers and augmented re-
ality gear — and staffed by researchers from diverse fields — the
lab is transforming what is possible with prosthetics.
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But the real game-changer of the past few years is their
integration of AI reinforcement learning, training software
through trial and error in a dynamic environment, which the
lab harnesses to make prosthetics more intuitive.
Movements as simple as passing salt around a dinner table
are quite complex on a muscular level. To replicate that with
a typical transhumeral (above elbow) prosthetic would require
the user to closely concentrate on the maneuver as they
manually change the direction of their prosthetic. Using
reinforcement learning techniques, the prostheses “learn”
to coordinate their motors and provide more lifelike and
natural movements.
While these devices present exciting possibilities for amputees,
they’re not without baggage, admits Pilarski. People working
in tech start-ups can sometimes create “solutions looking for
problems.” It can be tempting to just build something cool (like
a chest-mounted third arm, perhaps) without considering
standards of care, or customer needs. But, Pilarski says,
these integrations prioritize quality of life by restoring natural
movement.
Integrating machine learning and robotics also gets to the
heart of what makes a human human. If a robotic limb uses
artificial intelligence, then how do we preserve that individual’s
autonomy? Where does the person end, and the robot begin?
The lab is interested in these philosophical questions, and in
fact has philosophy students in the lab, alongside kinesiologists
and biomedical engineers. It’s a testament to BLINC’s inter-
disciplinary values and vision. “We don’t force all the computing
sciences to sit on one side and then all mechanical engineers
over here and medical residents only come in every third
day,” Pilarski explains. “We deliberately build our projects and
our space so that people are near each other, they’re working
with each other — they can create, and I like to say they can
constructively eavesdrop.”
Eavesdropping, he believes, forces interdisciplinary researchers
to consider, and reconsider, every angle of their innovations.
Some of the work might be dreaming up outlandish ideas, but
what’s made in the lab must always serve amputees. ED.