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Image Credit: BrainGate
A man paralyzed from the neck down used an implanted sensor that processed his brain signals to create text, achieving a typing speed rivaling that of his able-bodied peers.
The intracortical brain-computer interface (BCI) decoded his attempted handwriting movements from neural activity and translated them to text in real time at a rate of 90 characters per minute, more than double the previous record for typing with a BCI, reported Francis Willett, PhD, of Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Stanford University, and co-authors in
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The 65-year-old man, referred to as T5 in the paper, had a spinal cord injury in 2007 that immobilized his limbs. Nine years later, as part of the BrainGate2 clinical trial, researchers placed two BCI chips, each the size of baby aspirin, in the part of his motor cortex that governs hand movement.
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IMAGE: A participant in the BrainGate clinical trial uses wireless transmitters that replace the cables normally used to transmit signals from sensors inside the brain. view more
Credit: Braingate.ord
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University and Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center] Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are an emerging assistive technology, enabling people with paralysis to type on computer screens or manipulate robotic prostheses just by thinking about moving their own bodies. For years, investigational BCIs used in clinical trials have required cables to connect the sensing array in the brain to computers that decode the signals and use them to drive external devices.