Paralysed man uses 'brain implants' to have mashed potatoes after eight years

New Delhi: A paralysed man in Cleveland, US consumed mashed potatoes for the first time in 8 years using brain implants.

He was able to do this with the help of a computer-brain interface that reads his thoughts and send signals to move muscle in his arm, claim researchers.

The research, published in the journal Lancet, is the latest from BrainGate, a consortium of researchers testing brain-computer interface technology designed to give paralyzed individuals more mobility.

Prior tests of the technology allowed paralyzed people to move a robotic arm or a cursor on a keyboard just by using their thoughts.

The team at Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Functional Electrical Stimulation Center used the brain-computer interface and an electrical stimulation system that allowed Bill Kochevar, 56, to control his own arm.

To achieve this, the team implanted two sensors, each about the size of a baby aspirin, loaded with 96 electrodes designed to pick up nerve activity in the movement centres of the brain.

The sensors record brain signals created when Kochevar imagines moving his arm, and relay them to a computer.

The computer sends the signals to the electrical stimulation system, which directs impulses through about 30 wires implanted in muscles in Kochevar's arm and hand to produce specific movements.

Kochevar, who was paralysed below his shoulders in a cycling accident eight years ago, first learned to use the system to move a virtual reality arm on a computer screen.

He accomplished that on the first day he tried it, said Case Western's Robert Kirsch, the study's senior author.

(With Reuters inputs)