A quadriplegic manages to feed himself thanks to a brain-machine interface

A man managed to control two robotic arms thanks to electrodes implanted in his brain. He managed to perform complex tasks, such as cutting and eating pastry, thanks to shared control with pre-programmed gestures.

The brain-machine interfacesor some electrodes are located in the brain to control devices or robots, represent one of the most promising solutions to assist people with disabilities, especially if they cannot use their hands and arms. However, the use of robotic arms poses a problem because of the complexity of the manipulations required.

Researchers from thejohns hopkins university, in the United States, have managed to circumvent this problem. Their solution allowed a paralyzed man to feed himself using two robotic arms. Following an injury to the spinethe subject retained only slight movements in his shoulders, elbows and wrists. The researchers implanted a electrode array in sensorimotor regions of sound brainespecially those that correspond to his arms.

Semi-autonomous robotic arms

Where this solution differs from other research on the subject is the shared control of robotic arms. Rather than requiring the human to guide each movement, they cut the tasks into steps, and programmed the robot to perform certain movements automatically. This made it possible to control the 12 degrees of freedom of the robotic arms with only four gestures registered by the implanted electrodestwo for each arm.

The man thus succeeded in guiding the robotic arms, equipped with a knife and a fork, to cut a pastry and bring it to his mouth, a task that had previously been cut into 13 steps. This solution only allows you to perform a limited number of pre-programmed tasks, but could already help paralyzed people regain more independence.