Introduction - Microsurgery: Advances, Simulations, and Applications - page 23

caregiver [8]. Simulation systems have been constructed to improve
the design of manual wheel chairs [9], and others researchers are
developing navigation systems to ease the indoor motion of electric
wheelchairs [66]. One of the most recent challenges for prosthetic
arm development is the inclusion of controllable impedance in
prosthesis to replicate the impedance changes in human arms [67]
(Fig. 1.23).

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Figure 1.23 Interactive robot for mental therapy used in Japan and through
Europe since 2003 and used for dementia prevention in [8].

1.3 Regenerative Medicine and Artificial

Organs

The purpose of regenerative medicine is to regenerate lost and
damaged tissues by using cells [68]. Tissue is an assembled structure
composed of cells, which are the constituent unit of our body. Multiple
tissues and cells aggregate to form functional organs. As shown in
Fig. 1.24, there are two approaches for regenerative medicine. One
of them is the implantation of cells. Especially in cells, the formation
of an individual organism starts from a fertile egg (Fig. 1.25). After 6
days' growth, this cell forms a blastocyst that contains inner cell mass
(ICM). If we culture ICM, embryonic stem cells (ES cells, multipotent)
can be obtained. Figure 1.26 shows a schematic of differentiation