May. 17, 2012

Cathy Hutchinson suffers from paralysis that has left her unable to move her arms and legs for the past 15 years, but thanks to Brown University researchers, she was recently able to use a mind-controlled robot arm to drink her morning coffee.

Because the pathways between the brain and the limbs are cut off in paralysis cases, the Brown team decided to skip those pathways altogether and send signals directly from a brain-implanted sensor to the robot limb.

The technology still has a ways to go — researchers want to miniaturize it and create a wireless version — but it could be a major breakthrough in allowing people with paralysis to accomplish more tasks on their own.

[extremetech.]