Mind Control of Robot Arm

Two paralyzed patients successfully manipulate a robotic arm just by thinking about how they would move their own limbs if they could.

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Participant S3 drinking from a bottle using the DLR robotic armBRAINGATE2.ORG

Two patients who lost the use of their limbs (and the ability to speak) following brainstem strokes successfully reached out and touched a foam ball, thanks to a small array of electrodes implanted on their motor cortexes and a robotic arm that followed the command of their neurons, according to a Nature paper published today (May 16).

“These results are the first peer-reviewed demonstrations of 3 dimensional reaching and grabbing tasks using direct brain control of a robotic device,” study coauthor Leigh R. Hochberg, who has appointments at Brown University, Harvard Medical School, and Providence VA Medical Center, said at a press conference yesterday. “I believe that these are milestones in brain-computer interface research with exciting implications for neuroscience and neural rehabilitation.”

The device that ...

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Meet the Author

  • Jef Akst

    Jef Akst was managing editor of The Scientist, where she started as an intern in 2009 after receiving a master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses.
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