Spinal Cord Substitute: Second Life To Paralyzed Limbs
Northwestern University scientists with the support from National Institutes of Health have developed a brain-computer interface replacing the functions of spinal cord to help people again use their previously paralyzed limbs. The system, including the brain-computer interface wired directly into neurons in motor cortex and a functional electrical stimulation (FES) device wired into a rhesus monkeyâs arm temporarily paralyzed with an anesthetic, considerably improved the grasping precision and permitted voluntary adjustment of force. For the time being, the system performs basic body movements, and scientists say the human body movements are more complex and they need to undergo the process of motor learning to use the device.
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