Mind-Controlled Robot Arm Project, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Seven years after a motorcycle accident damaged his spinal cord and left him paralyzed, 30-year-old Tim Hemmes reached up to touch hands with his girlfriend in a painstaking and tender high-five.

Click to expand...

Quadriplegic Feeds Herself with Brain Computer Interfacing

All she wanted was chocolate. Just the simple act of dropping some into her own mouth and savoring both the sweetness of the goodie and of an act of independence she hasn't enjoyed for 10 years.

Jan Scheuermann, 53, came home to Pittsburgh a decade ago because she thought her degenerative condition might soon lead to her death, with two young children and a husband finding more insulation around her extended family in the South Hills.

Upon seeing the success of study participant Tim Hemmes in the previous round of the Brain Computer Interface project, Ms. Scheuermann contacted the researchers and became part of a scientific breakthrough.

And she also got to have her chocolate.

Click to expand...

A robot arm controlled by the brain of a paralyzed woman. Video from Journal of Neural Engineering/IOP Publishing. Paper: iopscience.iop.org/1741-2552/12/1/016011 For the story, read this:
"Wi-Fi Brain Implants For Robot Arms"

by Carl Zimmer
December 16, 2014

Click to expand...