How do you turn your thoughts into action? John Donoghue a Brown Professor who is working with Cyberkinetics; he’s telling the story of how they took it from the laboratory into a company. BrainGate is a product for turning thought into action: he showed a video of a paralysis victim using her thoughts (the part of her brain for moving the arm) to control a TV.
The activity in the brain can be read and decoded. To figure out how it worked, they wired up monkeys and had them play video games. After the monkeys learned how to play the games, and after John’s team cataloged the data, they were able to take the joystick away and the monkey could play the game with his mind.
They have started a trial: four participants with spinal cord injury or strokes.
He played a recording of brain activity (a crackling sound that corresponds to thinking about an activity). One of the patients was able to read and send email using the “Cyberkinetics Desktop”, a computer user interface connected to their equipment. They even wired one of their participants into a robotic hand. In case you’re wondering, yes they do have equipment wired right into their brains, Matrix-style.
He showed a video of a stroke victim verbally communicating for the first time since her stroke. When asked what she thought of the system, she tapped out “I love it” using a predictive text system wired to her brain.
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