A new kind of robotic leg braces that are controlled by small voltage fluctuations of the brain, as read by an electroencephalogram (EEG) placed over the head, could pave the way for overcoming paralysis, according to a new study posted last month (August 24) on arXiv. As demonstrated by an able-bodied volunteer in the video below, the device, known as a “robotic gait orthosis” and developed by researchers at the Long Beach Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of California, Irvine, provides a completely noninvasive way of moving a patient’s legs in a walking pattern. All the patient has to do is imagine they are walking (or standing, to stop).
“It’s an important step toward helping people with lower limb paralysis,” biomedical engineer Matt Fifer of Johns Hopkins University, who was not involved in the study, told Wired Science. “But there are lots of challenges still,” he added.
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