(57) An aspect of the present disclosure relates to a neuroprosthetic system for substituting
a sensory modality of a mammal by electrical stimulation of a region of the cerebral
cortex of said mammal corresponding to said neural modality to be substituted, said
system comprising: at least one sensor, for use by said mammal, arranged for generating
a sensed data feed by sensing a neural modality to be substituted; an electrode unit,
comprised of a plurality of three-dimensional arrays of flexible, elongated electrode
shafts, arranged for intracortical implantation for a dense occupation of such region
of the cerebral cortex of said mammal arranged for providing functional coverage of
the sensory modality, each shaft comprising multiple electrical contacts, for electrical
stimulation of subsets of locations in said region of the cerebral cortex; a rigid
electrode support structure, arranged for simultaneously guiding said flexible electrode
shafts of an array into said region of the cerebral cortex of said mammal during intracortical
implantation, and for retracting said support structure after implantation of an array
of flexible electrode shafts; a driving unit, arranged for electrically driving said
electrode unit for stimulating said subsets of locations in said region of the cerebral
cortex; a recording unit, arranged obtaining neural recording through said electrode
unit in said region of the cerebral cortex; a processing unit, arranged for analysing
said sensed data feed for providing stimulation patterns for electrically driving
groups of electrical contacts of said electrode unit corresponding to subsets of locations
in said region of the cerebral cortex, for substituting said sensory modality.
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