Washington, Oct 13: Scientists in North Carolina in the United States have built a brain implant that allows monkeys control a robotic arm with their thoughts. This is for the first time that mental intentions have been harnessed to move a mechanical object and the technology can some day allow people with paralysing spinal cord injuries to operate machines or tools with their thoughts as naturally as others do with their hands, the Washington Post said. It might even allow some paralysed people to move their own arms or legs again by transmitting the brain's directions not to a machine but directly to the muscles in those latent limbs, it said. The brain implants can also allow scientists or soldiers to control, hands-free, small robots that perform tasks in inhospitable environments or in war zones, it added.
In experiments, monkeys with wires running from their brains to a robotic arm were able to use their thoughts to make the arm perform tasks. But before long, the scientists said, they will upgrade their implants so the monkeys can transmit their mental commands to machines wirelessly.
"It is a major advance," University of Washington neuroscientist Eberhard E Fetz said. "This bodes well for the success of brain machine interfaces."
The experiments were led by Miguel A L Nicolelis of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and published today in Plos biology journal.
Bureau Report