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Posted on Jul 27, 2003, 12 p.m.
By Bill Freeman
The lives of wheelchair bound people could soon be revolutionized thanks to a team of European researchers who are developing a wheelchair that is controlled by the mind. The technology relies upon a skullcap worn by the patient that is embedded with electrodes. The skullcap enables messages from the brain to be transmitted to a computer, which then passes the messages on to the wheelchair via a wireless link.
The lives of wheelchair bound people could soon be revolutionized thanks to a team of European researchers who are developing a wheelchair that is controlled by the mind. The technology relies upon a skullcap worn by the patient that is embedded with electrodes. The skullcap enables messages from the brain to be transmitted to a computer, which then passes the messages on to the wheelchair via a wireless link. Early trials of the system using a robot suggest that it is as easy to control the robot with the brain as it is to control it manually, and that a person would need just two days' training to get to grips with the system. The mind-controlled computer system is being developed by Jose Millan of the Dalle Molle Institute for Perceptual Artificial Intelligence in Martigny, Switzerland, and colleagues from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Center for Biomedical Engineering Research in Barcelona, Spain.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Reported by www.reutershealth.com on the 23rd July 2003.
