It’s one giant robotic step for mankind.
A paralyzed French man can walk again thanks to a groundbreaking new mind-controlled “exoskeleton” device — which offers people with spinal chord injuries new hope for regaining movement, a scientific journal reports.
The 28-year-old quadriplegic patient, identified only as Thibault of Lyon, trained for months to operate the robotic device during a trial that scientists have hailed as a major breakthrough, according to a report published in The Lancet Neurology journal
To use the device, the patient — who was paralyzed at a nightclub from the shoulders down — learned to send signals to sensors implanted near his brain to move all four of his limbs.
He eventually walked the length of more than a soccer field over the course of the two-year trial.
“The brain is still capable of generating commands that would normally move the arms and legs, there’s just nothing to carry them out,” the study’s author, Alim Louis Benabid, says in the report.
During the walking sessions, recording devices were implanted on both sides of his head between his skin and brain — near the cortex region, which controls sensation and motor function.
In the past, brain-linked computer technologies have been implanted into the brain, sometimes using wires that can be dangerous or stop working.
“(This) is the first semi-invasive wireless brain-computer system designed … to activate all four limbs,” said Benabid said.
The exoskeleton was then ceiling-mounted to help him with balance, and attached to both of his arms and legs.
When you are in my position, when you can’t do anything with your body … I wanted to do something with my brain,” Thibault said, according to the UK Guardian.
“I can’t go home tomorrow in my exoskeleton but I’ve got to a point where I can walk. I walk when I want and I stop when I want.”
Four years ago, he fell from a 40-foot nightclub balcony and severed his spinal cord in a tragic accident.
While training for the trial, he used a video game avatar system to hone the skills needed to operate the robotic shell, and relearn movement. He also practiced mental tasks in to effectively communicate his thoughts clearly to the device.
The revolutionary gadget is years away from hitting the shelves — but has potential to the improve quality of life and autonomy of disabled people, according to the scientists behind the report.
Source: Nypost
