Ian Burkhart looked down at his hand and imagined closing it. To his amazement, it closed.
That moment, back in 2014, was the first time in history that a paralyzed person had regained the ability to move their arm using just their thoughts—with a little help from a device implanted in their brain.
The rapidly growing field, which includes leading BCI firms Synchron and Elon Musk's Neuralink, aims to use implants and algorithms to restore lost movement or communication and treat neurological disorders such as epilepsy. It involved invasive surgery to implant a pea-sized device containing around 100 electrodes near his brain's motor cortex, which controls movement., sending it to a computer which used an algorithm to decipher exactly how he wanted to move his hand.
But after seven and a half years, funding for the trial ran out, and he had to have the device removed in 2021.The blow was softened by the fact that he was only ever able to use the technology in the lab, which he visited a couple of times a week."The device is screwed into your skull" with a connector sticking out, leaving an"open wound", he said.
"The actual truth of using these devices right now is they can do a lot less than what a lot of people are thinking," he said, adding that it was not something that people need to be"scared about". The idea was that the device would warn Galvin if she was about to have a seizure, giving her time to prepare.
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