Brain implant allows paralysed woman to control a robot with her thoughts [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Brain implant allows paralysed woman to control a robot with her thoughts
The BrainGate implant can decode a patient's brain signals and instruct a robotic arm to reach and grasp objects
Ian Sample, science correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 May 2012 13.00 EDT

A woman who lost the use of her limbs after a devastating stroke nearly 15 years ago has taken a sip of coffee by guiding a robotic arm with her thoughts.

The 58-year-old used a brain implant to control the robot and bring a flask of the coffee to her lips, the first time she had picked up anything since she was paralysed and left unable to speak by a catastrophic brain stem stroke.

Doctors hailed the feat as the first demonstration of an implant that directly controls a reaching and gripping robotic arm by sensing and decoding the patient's brain signals.

The work is part of a US clinical trial of an experimental implant called BrainGate that doctors see as a first step towards devices that can bypass damage to the nervous system and allow paralysed people to regain control of their limbs or amputees to move prosthetics.

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/may/16/brain-implant-paralysed-woman-robot-thoughts