People with
tetraplegia use their thoughts to control robotic aids.
(May 16, 2012) Two people
who are unable to move their limbs have been able to guide a robot arm to reach
and grasp objects using only their brain activity, a paper in Nature reports
today1.
The study
participants — known as Cathy and Bob — had had strokes that damaged their
brain stems and left them with tetraplegia and unable to speak. Neurosurgeons
implanted tiny recording devices containing almost 100 hair-thin electrodes in
the motor cortex of their brains, to record the neuronal signals associated
with intention to move.
In a trial
filmed in April last year and presented with the paper, Cathy, who had her
stroke 15 years ago and received the implants in 2005, used her thoughts to
steer a robot arm to grasp a bottle of coffee and lift it to her lips. She
drank and smiled.