Following unfortunate accidents that leave perfectly healthy people severely paralyzed, many hear the diagnosis of “you will never walk again.” Though realistically this still holds true for many, the latest findings coming out of research labs point to the fact that practical therapies that may restore movement are no longer only the stuff of science fiction.
Researchers at Duke University have reported in journal Science Translational Medicine that they were able to train monkeys to control two virtual limbs through a brain-computer interface (BCI). The rhesus monkeys initially used joysticks to become comfortable moving the avatar’s arms, but later the brain-computer interfaces implanted on their brains were activated to allow the monkeys to drive the avatar using only their minds. Two years ago the same team was able to train monkeys to control one arm, but the complexity of controlling two arms required the development of a new algorithm for reading and filtering the signals. Moreover, the monkey brains themselves showed great adaptation to the training with the BCI, building new neural pathways to help improve how the monkeys moved the virtual arms. As the authors of the study note in the abstract, “These findings should help in the design of more sophisticated BMIs capable of enabling bimanual motor control in human patients.”
Here’s a video of one of the avatars being controlled to tap on the white balls:
Flashbacks: Monkey-See, Monkey-Do, Monkey-Feel: Duke Univeristy Researchers Demonstrate Two Way Brain-Machine Interface…; Brain-Computer Interfaces, Mind-Controlled Robotic Avatars, and Our Self-Realization…; Monkey Moves Robotic Arm via Brain-Computer Interface…; Neural Link Lets One Rat’s Brain Guide Another…; I, For One, Welcome Our Robot-Arm Controlling Monkey Overlords…
Study in Science Translational Medicine: A Brain-Machine Interface Enables Bimanual Arm Movements in Monkeys
Duke University press statement: Monkeys Use Minds to Move Two Virtual Arms…