Innovation in Neurotechnology: how a paralyzed person uses thoughts to control a robotic arm
Photo: braingate2.org
Research published online first today, and in the May 17 2012 issue of Nature describes promising results of a clinical trial with tetraplegics (all four limbs paralyzed) that allowed the control of an external robotic arm (DEKA arm) using an embedded microarray in the brain, the BrainGate neural interface system.
One of the two study participants who had the array implanted 5 years ago, was able to use her mind to control a robotic arm and serve herself coffee from a bottle, 15 years after she became completely paralyzed & unable to speak.