Wednesday, August 15, 2012

DLR Robot: Paralysed woman uses thoughts to control robot

Almost 15 years after being paralysed by a stroke, a 58-year-old US-American woman was once again able to serve herself a drink of coffee.

This was possible thanks to a state-of-the-art DLR robot arm and hand that she controlled with neural signals sent directly from her brain.

It took just a few moments for her to grasp the drinking bottle with the robot hand, bring it up to her mouth and drink the coffee through a straw.

To accomplish this, software decoded neural signals recorded from a small array of electrodes that reflected her intention to reach and grasp, and converted them into commands that directed the robot arm and hand.

Researchers at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) present the results of their collaboration with Brown University, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, and Massachusetts General Hospital in the 17 May 2012 issue of the scientific journal Nature.

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