"The most optimistic case would be a few years before you would have a dedicated system," he says, noting more work is needed to refine computer software that interprets brain signals so they can be converted into actions, like moving an arm.
An Advance over the Penetrating Utah Electrode Array
Such technology already has been developed in experimental form using small arrays of penetrating electrodes that stick into the brain. The University of Utah pioneered development of the 100-electrode Utah Electrode Array used to read signals from the brain cells of paralyzed people. In experiments in Massachusetts, researchers used the small, brain-penetrating electrode array to help paralyzed people move a computer cursor, operate a robotic arm and communicate.
Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Utah and elsewhere are working on a $55 million Pentagon project to develop a lifelike bionic arm that war veterans and other amputees would control with their thoughts, just like a real arm. Scientists are debating whether the prosthetic devices should be controlled from nerve signals collected by electrodes in or on the brain, or by electrodes planted in the residual limb.
The new study was funded partly by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's bionic arm project, and by the National Science Foundation and Blackrock Microsystems, which provided the system to record brain waves.
House and Greger conducted the research with Spencer Kellis, a doctoral student in electrical and computer engineering; Kyle Thomson, a doctoral student in bioengineering; and Richard Brown, professor of electrical and computer engineering and dean of the university's College of Engineering.
Microelectrodes on the Brain May Last Longer than Those Poking Inside
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| Contact: Lee Siegel leesiegel@ucomm.utah.edu 801-581-8993 University of Utah Source:Eurekalert |