Neuroprosthetic system and method for substituting a sensory modality of a mammal by high-density electrical stimulation of a region of the cerebral cortex

A neuroprosthetic system for substituting a sensory modality of a mammal by electrical stimulation of a region of the cerebral cortex of the mammal corresponding to the sensory modality to be substituted, comprising:

• at least one sensor, for use by the mammal, for generating a sensed data feed by sensing a sensory modality to be substituted;
• an electrode unit, comprising a plurality of three-dimensional arrays of flexible electrode shafts, for intracortical implantation for an occupation of the region of the cerebral cortex of the mammal for providing functional coverage of the sensory modality, each flexible electrode shaft comprising multiple electrical contacts for electrical stimulation of subsets of locations in the region of the cerebral cortex;
• a rigid electrode support structure for simultaneously guiding the flexible electrode shafts of an array into the region of the cerebral cortex of the mammal during intracortical implantation, and for detaching from the array of flexible electrode shafts and retracting the rigid electrode support structure after implantation of the array of the flexible electrode shafts, the rigid electrode support structure including a plurality of rigid insert shafts, wherein each rigid insert shaft extends alongside and is removably attached to one of the flexible electrode shafts by a temporary interface configured to detach post-intracortical implantation;
• a driving unit for electrically driving the electrode unit for stimulating the subsets of locations in the region of the cerebral cortex;
• a recording unit for obtaining neural recording through the electrode unit in the region of the cerebral cortex;
• and
• a processing unit for analysing the sensed data feed for providing stimulation patterns for electrically driving groups of electrical contacts of the electrode unit corresponding to the subsets of locations in the region of the cerebral cortex, for substituting the sensory modality.