Brain Computer Interface

Devices that monitor electrical activity in the human brain could prove to be powerful tools for sufferers of paralysis

Medical Devices

Groundbreaking implant wirelessly relays brain signals in high fidelity

The team behind a project known as BrainGate have made a major breakthrough, demonstrating a wireless brain-computer interface that can read and transmit neural signals at a bandwidth that is on par with wired systems.

New research offers an early proof-of-concept demonstrating how ultrasound recording could be effectively used in future brain-machine interfaces

Medical Devices

Scientists read minds of monkeys using new ultrasound technique

A landmark proof-of-concept study reveals a novel brain-machine interface using ultrasound tracking brain activity to predict subsequent motor movements. The preliminary research suggests a non-invasive way of controlling computers with one's mind.

Scientists are getting better at using machines to decode electrical signals coming from the brain, but a new "plug-and-play" device represents a significant step forward

Medical Devices

Plug-and-play brain-decoding device picks up where it left off

One of their more promising applications for brain computer interfaces involves allowing sufferers of paralysis to regain control of prosthetic devices, something scientists have now demonstrated with a first-of-a-kind plug-and-play device.

Spinal cord injury patient Buz Chmielewsk with Johns Hopkins University researcher Matt Fifer

Medical Devices

Bilateral brain implant gives paraplegic a two-handed sense of touch

Scientists studying brain-computer interfaces at Johns Hopkins University are reporting a big breakthrough, demonstrating a system that enables a quadriplegic to control and gain feedback from two prosthetics arms at once.

A test subject uses the BrainGate BCI to play "Ode to Joy" on a virtual keyboard interface

Medical Devices

BrainGate tech lets paralyzed volunteers control a tablet via their thoughts

In recent years, a brain-computer interface (BCI) developed by the US BrainGate consortium has allowed people to control a robotic arm and to type, using only their thoughts. Now, a group of paralyzed volunteers has utilized the technology to perform various functions on a tablet.

Kochevar can now use his hand to eat mashed potatoes, among other things

Medical Devices

Implants link paralyzed man's arm to his brain to restore movement

By implanting recording electrodes under the skull of a paralyzed man and others into in his arm, scientists have reconnected his brain to his paralyzed muscles and enabled him to perform everyday tasks like drinking water and eating a forkful of food.

KAIST researchers have developed a system that would let people steer a live turtle just by thinking

Medical Devices

Concept system puts cyborg turtles under mind control

Cyborg insects have been scuttling and buzzing around for years, but now, researchers from KAIST have scaled the idea up to a turtle. With their concept system, a human driver could use a brain-computer interface (BCI) to direct the turtle's movement just by thinking about it.

Brain-computer interfaces are able to translate commands in the mind into real-world actions

Biology

Test subjects type fast – using only their brains

In cases of paralysis, a fully functioning brain can be trapped inside an immobile body. More and more, brain-computer-interface technology is coming to the rescue in such cases, including a newly developed system that lets people type at a faster speed than ever before using only their minds.

In their current form, the researchers say the sensors could be used not just for monitoring, but also stimulating nerves and muscles to treat things like epilepsy

Medical Devices

Implantable sand-sized sensors to monitor internal goings on in real time

Health and fitness monitors may have come along in leaps and bounds, but there's still a whole lot they don't know about us. Placing miniaturized sensors deep inside our bodies would be one way to change that, and now it seems such a technology mightn't be so far away.

The team has also developed special software to analyze the incoming signals captured by the headset

Medical Devices

Mobile EEG cap to enable brainwave monitoring on the go

Researchers have taken a promising step towards a future of where our brainwaves can be used to control devices and tackle neurological disorders, unveiling a portable EEG headset that will take brain monitoring out of the lab and into homes, cars and offices.

A study of the ways in which monkeys grasp objects may lead to advances in prostheses for humans

Medical Devices

Brain study comes to grips with the challenge of mind-controlled prostheses

A new study conducted by Brown University researchers has furthered our understanding of how the brain formulates a plan for picking up an object. In the long run, the findings could pave the way for more accomplished mind-controlled robotic prostheses.

Three rhesus macaque monkeys were made to operate the arm of a virtual monkey, while seated in separate rooms with either a handheld joystick or a brain control technique using special algorithms

Medical Devices

Connected brains share control of virtual limbs and predict the weather

The latest step forward in the field of brain-to-brain communication sees the brains of separate animals hooked up and their combined motor and sensory information used for things like controlling a virtual arm, pattern recognition and even predicting the weather.