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Brain-computer interface enables people with paralysis to control tablet devices
In a study published November 21 in PLOS ONE, three clinical trial participants with tetraplegia, each of whom was using the investigational BrainGate BCI that records neural activity directly from a small sensor placed in the motor cortex, were able to navigate through commonly used tablet programs, including email, chat, music-streaming and video-sharing apps. The participants messaged with family, friends, members of the research team and their fellow participants. They surfed the web, checked the weather and shopped online. One participant, a musician, played a snippet of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" on a digital piano interface.
"For years, the BrainGate collaboration has been working to develop the neuroscience and neuroengineering know-how to enable people who have lost motor abilities to control external devices just by thinking about the movement of their own arm or hand," said Dr. Jaimie Henderson, a senior author of the paper and a Stanford University neurosurgeon. "In this study, we've harnessed that know-how to restore people's ability to control the exact same everyday technologies they were using before the onset of their illnesses. It was wonderful to see the participants express themselves or just find a song they want to hear."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 24 2018, @07:56PM (1 child)
If you can control a computer with a chip in your brain, you can also control the brain with a computer.
Remember the cosy days of yore when first malware meant an ambulance driving around your screen or then a bit later your bank account getting emptied? When there was only hardware and software while wetware remained unplugged?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday November 24 2018, @08:11PM
Those memories will be deleted in 3, 2, 1...
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