A trial of thought-controlled robotic legs is taking its first steps
ANYONE who saw Claire Lomas complete this year’s London marathon on May 7th cannot fail to have been impressed by her grit and determination. Ms Lomas, once a show jumper, was paralysed from the chest down by a riding accident in 2007, so finishing a marathon, albeit at walking pace, was a dramatic feat. Some of the adulation, however, should be reserved for the technology that helped her do so: a pair of bionic legs.
Ms Lomas’s legs were designed by Amit Goffer, an Israeli engineer who is himself paralysed. They have various modes (“sit”, “stand” and “walk”, and “ascend” and “descend” for staircases) and are controlled by a keypad worn on the wrist. Walking also requires the assistance of a pair of crutches. But Dr Goffer’s legs allowed Ms Lomas to travel the 42.195km (26 miles and 385 yards) of the marathon course in stages, over a period of 16 days.
That record may not last long, however. Another engineer, José Contreras-Vidal of the University of Houston, in Texas, has what may prove an even better design: a pair of bionic legs that respond directly to signals from the brain. (An early version is pictured above.)
The idea of controlling machines by thought is not new. Research both on people and on monkeys has shown it is possible for them to move mechanical limbs with great precision, using software which interprets signals collected by electrodes implanted in their brains. (The latest such experiment, allowing quadriplegic people to control robotic arms and hands, is described in this article.) The problem with this approach is that implanting electrodes into a brain is a dangerous procedure—and, even if it succeeds and does no damage, the wires leading out of the skull to the computer open a passage into the body which can lead to infection.
Dr Contreras-Vidal’s approach gets round these difficulties by employing electroencephalography (EEG), which measures those electrical signals from the brain that reach the scalp.
via The Economist
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