Computers Obeying Brain Signals
From: Associated Press - 04/03/2005
By: Malcolm Ritter

Technologies designed to improve the quality of life for paralytics and other
mobility-challenged people by enabling them to communicate and operate
devices using brain-wave signals are under development around the world. The
last few years have seen many promising brain-machine interface technologies
come to the fore, thanks to combined advances in neuroscience, computer
software, and electronics. Dr. Jonathan Wolpaw of the Wadsworth Center of the
New York State Department of Health's Brain-Computer Interface lab has
developed a wearable nylon mesh equipped with electrodes that monitor neural
activity near the brain's surface and measure the brain's "beta rhythm" to
direct the movements of an onscreen cursor; the beta rhythm originates from
the section of the brain that receives movement-related information, and the
patient learns to adjust this rhythm in order to control the cursor.
Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems chief science officer John Donoghue
thinks implantable brain-computer interfaces such as his BrainGate are more
effective tools because they allow patients to operate devices simply by
imagining their limbs moving. Scientists say implantable systems can
facilitate much more sophisticated control and natural movement of artificial
or even human limbs than Wolpaw's scalp recorder, though Wolpaw thinks that
scalp electrodes could translate thought into movement just as effectively
when combined with software. Duke University scientist Miguel Nicolelis
envisions lightweight "wearable robots" that enable paralytics to walk and
reach for objects, while Dr. Philip Kennedy of Neural Signals believes
electrodes implanted in the brain' speech centers would make "locked-in"
patients able to communicate via a synthesizer. 

Read the entire article at:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=638149

Links:
Jonathan R. Wolpaw, MD
http://www.wadsworth.org/new/j_wolpaw.htm

Paralyzed use brain waves to move
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2004-12-06-paralyzed-brain-waves_x.htm?csp=36

Cyberkinetics
http://www.cyberkineticsinc.com/content/index.jsp

Miguel A. L. Nicolelis, MD, PhD
http://neuro.duke.edu/Faculty/Nicolelis.htm

Neurobiologist uses brain to restore mobility
http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/09/30/3f797251720bf

Neural Signals
http://www.neuralsignals.com/
