Paralyzed woman moves robotic arm with thought only

Using the BrainGate neural interface system, a woman paralyzed by a brainstem stroke serves herself coffee for the first time in 15 years.
By implanting a 96-electrode sensor the size of a baby aspirin onto the surface of their brains, researchers have enabled two quadriplegic participants to use their thoughts alone to perform tasks with two types of robotic arms.

The BrainGate implant -- and the resulting Jedi mind tricks -- may be sort of anxiety-producing to some. But the smile on the face of the woman who hadn't been able to serve herself coffee in 15 years put a fine point on the progress the technology is affording.

"One of our participants was able to do something that, when all of us saw it for the first time, gave us all pause," lead author Dr. Leigh Hochberg, a neuroengineer and critical care neurologist who holds appointments at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Brown University, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard, said in a Brown news video.

"She reached out with the robotic arm, she thought about the use of her own hand, she picked up that thermos of coffee, brought it close to her, tilted it toward herself, and sipped coffee from a straw. And that was the first time in nearly 15 years that she had picked up anything and been able to drink from it solely of her own volition."