The diversity of sensors in the skin is impressive--it's not all sensed by a generic nerve. There are specialized mechanisms for vibration, heat, pressure and even pain. Here's a great summary with diagrams:
I believe we've had technology similar to this for a long time, is there anything new with this in particular?
I believe the biggest problem is the formation of scar tissue around the implanted electrodes. This reduces the strength of the electrical signals over time, and eventually the electrodes need to be adjusted.
There have been prosthetic arms that can be controlled by thought alone for a while. I think the new part is getting real-time feedback from the arms back to the brain.
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[ 2.4 ms ] story [ 30.2 ms ] threadhttp://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/receptor.html
I believe the biggest problem is the formation of scar tissue around the implanted electrodes. This reduces the strength of the electrical signals over time, and eventually the electrodes need to be adjusted.