Ian Burkhart became paralysed after a swimming accident, but may now benefit from modern medical science as he has become the first person to benefit from a mind controlled bionic hand. The bionic device is controller using a microchip that was inserted into his brain and the first tests left him able to open and close his fist, even going as far as picking up a spoon! This may not sound like much to you and me, but for someone who is paralysed, this must have been freaking awesome.
With millions of people in the world suffering from a multitude of mobility problems, this technology could open up a whole new world for them, even going as far as letting them live a normal life once again, or at the least become more independent at tasks most of us take for granted.
The Neurobridge technology was created by doctors at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. The chip reads a patients thoughts and transmits a replacement signal which the patients body can no longer generate on its own. The big revelation here is that patients are using their own body, a big shift from previous methods that have required the use of robotic prosthetics.
“Today was great. To be able to open and close my hand and do those complex movements that I haven’t been able to do for four years was great. Physically, it was a foreign feeling. Emotionally it was definitely a sense of hope and excitement to know that it’s possible.” said Ian when speaking with CBS
Plugging in the chip to a computer is actually like jacking into the matrix, a cable running from the patients head to a computer which then decodes the required thoughts and translates them into signals that are then sent to electrodes on a sleeve, causing the muscles in the hand to respond and move in the way the patient wishes.
Thank you Telegraph for providing us with this information.
Image courtesy of Telegraph.
