Posted on 05/23/2015 7:40:19 AM PDT by RoosterRedux
Paralyzed from the neck down, Erik G. Sorto now can smoothly move a robotic arm just by thinking about it, thanks to a clinical collaboration between Caltech, Keck Medicine of USC and Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center,
Previous neural prosthetic devices, such as Braingate, were implanted in the motor cortex, resulting in delayed, jerky movements. The new device was implanted in the posterior parietal cortex (PPC), a part of the brain that controls the intent to move, not the movement directly.
That makes Sorto, who has been paralyzed for over 10 years, the first quadriplegic person in the world to perform a fluid hand-shaking gesture or play “rock, paper, scissors,” using a robotic arm.
In April 2013, Keck Medicine of USC surgeons implanted a pair of small electrode arrays in two parts of the posterior parietal cortex, one that controls reach and another that controls grasp.
Each 4-by-4 millimeter array contains 96 active electrodes that, in turn, each record the activity of single neurons in the PPC. The arrays are connected by a cable to a system of computers that process the signals, to decode the brain’s intent and control output devices, such as a computer cursor and a robotic arm.
Although he was able to immediately move the robot arm with his thoughts, after weeks of imagining, Sorto refined his control of the arm.
Now, Sorto is able to execute advanced tasks with his mind, such as controlling a computer cursor; drinking a beverage; making a hand-shaking gesture; and performing various tasks with the robotic arm.
(Excerpt) Read more at kurzweilai.net ...
Incredible!
Outstanding!
Very cool! Thanks for posting.
Reminds me of an episode of THE BIG BANG THEORY. Wojohowitz (sp) had built a robot arm and used it to “please himself” and it had clamped down and wouldn’t let go. He told his friends he had fallen into it. Leonard said “I would suggest getting some lubricant but I imagine you fell into some of that, too.”
This is a very early step on the way to the first type of human immortality.
While it’s not really in doubt that a multibillion dollar research project to keep a human brain and spinal column alive while separated from the body would work...what’s the point if you cannot supply digital I/O to that brain.
Brain I/O would allow for control of remote telepresence robotic devices. This would give mobility. The digital I/O would also allow connection to the internet.
It would require, at a minimum, hundreds of thousands of digital connections to the brain to be truly viable though, but advances in nano tech will lead to that.
Voice-activated robot arm joke punchline:
“OK.....now jerk it off.” RIPPP!!! “AAAAAGHHHHHH!!!!!”
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