Nov. 16--Blind people will see with near-normal vision and the paralyzed walk in an "exoskeleton" controlled by their thoughts, said researchers speaking at the Society for Neuroscience's annual convention in San Diego.
More sophisticated two-way communication with the brain is making these achievements possible, first in animals and later in humans, after the devices have been tested for safety, the researchers said. Just how long this will take is unclear, though.
These ideas for what are called brain-machine interfaces were proven in principle years ago, and are being improved upon to the point of being practical, said Nick Spitzer, co-director of UC San Diego's Kavli Institute for Brain and Mind.
"You can now hook up the brain and use nerve impulses in the brain to drive robotic arms, so people can pick up a cup and bring it over and drink it without pouring it all over their lap," said Spitzer, a member of the team organizing the conference.
"In the San Diego area, where we have a lot of people coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan and earlier wars, military folks would be very interested in understanding what the future may hold in this regard," Spitzer said.
A new artificial retina provides close to normal vision for animals by incorporating the "neural code" used for transmitting images through the optic nerve to the brain, said Sheila Nirenberg, an associate professor of physiology and biophysics of Cornell University's Weill Medical College, who helped develop the device.
Previous artificial retinas, which didn't use this code, did little more than distinguish between light and dark, Nirenberg said. The new retinal prosthesis "codes almost as well as the real retina," she said.
And a device using real-time feedback through functional magnetic resonance imaging can be used for improved communication with patients having "locked-in syndrome," meaning they are conscious but paralyzed and unable to communicate, said Anna Childress, a professor in the department of psychiatry of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
As better brain function imaging becomes feasible, the range of functions that can be controlled by thought will increase, said Miguel Nicolelis, a Duke University neurobiologist noted for his work enabling monkeys to play a video game with thought alone.
Nicolelis said his lab and others are researching how to make a "brain pacemaker" that could allow paraplegics to walk again.
The implanted brain pacemaker would wirelessly transmit signals to a "BlackBerry-like device in a robotics suit," Nicolelis said. The patient's body inside the semi-rigid suit, or "exoskeleton," would move according to the brain's commands.
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Call staff writer Bradley J. Fikes at 760-739-6641. Read his blogs at bizblogs.nctimes.com.
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