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Neuroscience

Brain-controlled robot grabs attention

Nature volume 485, pages 317–318 (2012)Cite this article

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Restoring voluntary actions to paralysed patients is an ambition of neural-interface research. A study shows that people with tetraplegia can use brain control of a robotic arm to reach and grasp objects. See Letter p.372

Most of us take for granted our effortless ability to interact with objects. When we are thirsty and reach for a cup, electrical signals stream from the brain through the spinal cord, instructing our muscles to move. However, a disruption of the nerve pathways along which these signals travel can cause paralysis, with devastating consequences for the person's quality of life. So there is growing interest in technologies that allow the brain to bypass nerve injuries and communicate directly with the environment. Neural-interface systems, also known as brain–machine interfaces, detect electrical signals in the brain and use them to control external assistive devices. The first results from a clinical trial of 'BrainGate', a neural interface that enabled a patient paralysed by a spinal-cord injury to move a computer cursor, were published1 in 2006. On page 372 of this issue, Hochberg et al.2 now report that two people with long-standing paralysis can control the reaching and grasping actions of a robotic arm using BrainGate. One of the participants was even able to drink from a bottle using the robotic arm, something she had not been able to do with her own limb since a stroke nearly 15 years ago.

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Figure 1: Within reach.

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  1. Andrew Jackson is at the Institute of Neuroscience, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, UK.,

    Andrew Jackson

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Correspondence to Andrew Jackson.

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Jackson, A. Brain-controlled robot grabs attention. Nature 485, 317–318 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/485317a

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