1. Department of Neurobiology;
2. Department of Biomedical Engineering;
3. Department of Psychology-Experimental, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA
4. Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, State University of New York Health Science Center, Brooklyn, New York 11203, USA
5. Laboratory for Human and Machine Haptics, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA

Correspondence to: Miguel A. L. Nicolelis^1,4,5 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to M.A.L.N. (e-mail: Email: nicoleli@ neuro.duke.edu).

Abstract

Signals derived from the rat motor cortex can be used for controlling one-dimensional movements of a robot arm¹. It remains unknown, however, whether real-time processing of cortical signals can be employed to reproduce, in a robotic device, the kind of complex arm movements used by primates to reach objects in space. Here we recorded the simultaneous activity of large populations of neurons, distributed in the premotor, primary motor and posterior parietal cortical areas, as non-human primates performed two distinct motor tasks. Accurate real-time predictions of one- and three-dimensional arm movement trajectories were obtained by applying both linear and nonlinear algorithms to cortical neuronal ensemble activity recorded from each animal. In addition, cortically derived signals were successfully used for real-time control of robotic devices, both locally and through the Internet. These results suggest that long-term control of complex prosthetic robot arm movements can be achieved by simple real-time transformations of neuronal population signals derived from multiple cortical areas in primates.

1. Department of Neurobiology;
2. Department of Biomedical Engineering;
3. Department of Psychology-Experimental, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27710, USA
4. Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, State University of New York Health Science Center, Brooklyn, New York 11203, USA
5. Laboratory for Human and Machine Haptics, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA

Correspondence to: Miguel A. L. Nicolelis^1,4,5 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to M.A.L.N. (e-mail: Email: nicoleli@ neuro.duke.edu).