Monkey's Brain Waves Control Robot's Arm

Two monkeys with a set of electrodes implanted in their parietal and frontal regions of their brain were able to control a robot's arm movements simply with signals from their brain and visual feedback on a video screen. The research at Duke University Medical Center was led by Prof Nicolelis and provides hope for paralyzed pets and humans as a way to control to use "neuroprosthetic" limbs, and even free-roaming "neurorobots" with brain signals.

The paper published online Oct. 13, 2003, in the Public Library of Science (PLoS), by neurobiologists led by Miguel Nicolelis, professor of neurobiology and co-director of the Duke Center for Neuroengineering. Other key investigators were Jose Carmena and Craig Henriquez, associate professor of biomedical engineering in the Pratt School of Engineering, and the other co-director at the Centre.

An array of microelectrodes 96 in one monkey and 320 in the other -- each smaller than the diameter of a human hair -- was implanted into the frontal and parietal lobes of the brains of two female rhesus macaque monkeys.

An interesting observation is that the monkey begins to start using the robot arm preferentially with signals from her brain while letting their own arm rest passively on the side. This indicates that the brain had begun to act as if the robot arm was a real arm.

For those who wish to contact Professor Miguel Nicolelis. They can write to him at nicoleli@neuro.duke.edu. or call him up on can be reached at (919) 684-4580.

relevant links : http://dukemednews.org/news/article.php?id=69