To Help Quadriplegics, Monkeys Navigate a Wheelchair With Their Minds
It's like a science-fiction fever dream: steering a conveyance by thought alone.
Writing in the journal Scientific Reports on Thursday, a team of pioneers in the field of "brain-machine interfaces" reported it has found the formula to move that dream toward reality for quadriplegics and others who have lost the ability to voluntarily use their muscles.
First, set out some grapes. Then, put an eager rhesus monkey into her monkey-sized wheelchair and add a suite of electrodes that eavesdrop on her will to move toward the treat. Finally, start the recorder.
The resulting data — the repeated electrical signals of a monkey wishing to capture a treat — allowed scientists at Duke University's Center for Neuroengineering to demonstrate a way to restore mobility to the wholly paralyzed and locked in. The next step, according to Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, senior author of the new paper: to use the "brain-machine interface" demonstrated here to let human quadriplegics move around at will.
http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/help-quadriplegics-monkeys-navigate-wheelchair-minds/
First, set out some grapes. Then, put an eager rhesus monkey into her monkey-sized wheelchair and add a suite of electrodes that eavesdrop on her will to move toward the treat. Finally, start the recorder.
The resulting data — the repeated electrical signals of a monkey wishing to capture a treat — allowed scientists at Duke University's Center for Neuroengineering to demonstrate a way to restore mobility to the wholly paralyzed and locked in. The next step, according to Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, senior author of the new paper: to use the "brain-machine interface" demonstrated here to let human quadriplegics move around at will.
http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/help-quadriplegics-monkeys-navigate-wheelchair-minds/