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[Phantast2k]

The nerve bypass: how to move a paralysed hand

First paralysed person to be 'reanimated' offers neuroscience insights : Nature News

A quadriplegic man who has become the first person to be implanted with technology that sends signals from the brain to muscles — allowing him to regain some movement in his right arm hand and wrist — is providing novel insights about how the brain reacts to injury.

Two years ago, 24-year-old Ian Burkhart from Dublin, Ohio, had a microchip implanted in his brain, which facilitates the ‘reanimation’ of his right hand, wrist and fingers when he is wired up to equipment in the laboratory. Researchers led by Chad Bouton, currently at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York, have been studying Burkhart ever since, and publish their results on 13 April in Nature

...

Burkhart — who is paralysed from the shoulders down but can move his shoulders and, to a small extent, his elbow — broke his neck after diving into waves during a beach holiday when he was 19. He later discovered that 25 minutes away from his home, researchers at Ohio State University in Columbus were developing the reanimation technology and decided to volunteer to have the microchip implanted.

Bouton and his colleagues took fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) scans of Burkhart’s brain while he tried to mirror videos of hand movements. This identified a precise area of the motor cortex — the area of the brain that controls movement — linked to these movements. Surgery was then performed to implant a flexible chip that detects the pattern of electrical activity arising when Burkhart thinks about moving his hand, and relays it through a cable to a computer. Machine-learning algorithms then translate the signal into electrical messages, which are transmitted to a flexible sleeve that wraps around Burkhart’s right forearm and stimulates his muscles. “The first day we hooked it up I was able to get movement, and open and close my hand,” he says (see 'Ian talks about his new-found movement')

Since then, he has been attending training sessions up to three times a week. As a result, Burkhart is currently able to make isolated finger movements and perform six different wrist and hand motions, enabling him to, among other things, pick up a glass of water, and even play a guitar-based video game.

How awesome is that?

 

[Alexlf]

One step closer to cyber limbs, I'm in.

Very cool that it's already on it's way to helping people though, I couldn't even imagine how hard it must be being quadriplegic.

 

[Tacitus_]

Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology.

 

[TheSeks]

Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology.

The $60billion dollar man?

It's good that there's progress here. But I'm wondering how fast/slow it'll be to give this sort of advancement toward veterans that have lost their limbs and better movement for both veterans and the paralyzed.

 

[Phantast2k]

One step closer to cyber limbs, I'm in.

Very cool that it's already on it's way to helping people though, I couldn't even imagine how hard it must be being quadriplegic.

Yeah, I know a person who even has to use a breathing tube. I'm sure he'll be very happy to hear that.
I think in the foreseeable future there will be special, electrical jumpsuits (or pants) connected to the brain to help the people move.

 

[backflip10019]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1207420&highlight=

 

[Phantast2k]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1207420&highlight=

Cheers, I searched for "reanimated" and failed to find any results.
Maybe add the video to the op though.

 

[HTupolev]

Cheers, I searched for "reanimated" and failed to find any results

"Reanimated" is what you'd use to find threads about zombies.

 

[HP_Wuvcraft]

This is amazing.

Gonna suck when there's a malfunction, though.

 

[platocplx]

psh.. wake me up when they can download my consciousness into a fully automated surrogate so that I can live on forever.

 

[zeemumu]

 

[DarkKyo]

psh.. wake me up when they can download my consciousness into a fully automated surrogate so that I can live on forever.

Survive another 50 years for a chance at this. Take care of yourself!

It won't be perfect at first. Don't expect to be the same "person" but rather a slow transformation of yourself into a new identity of ghost and computer. Can't be anymore devastating than than the slow transformation of self we've experienced our entire lives, anyways. I doubt the first generations of man/machine hybrids could hold a candle to those we'll see in a few hundred years. Either way, it's preferable to have your self altered than to have it die, right?

 

[forrest]

It may not be professional, but they need to get that guy the ability to jerk off stat.

It's been 5 years since his accident.

 

[gamz]