Wednesday, January 14th, 2004

Computer interface for the brain

I have always been a slow typer, due mainly to the fact the I have cerebral palsy, albeit a mild case. Unfortunately as a result of my car accident, I’m now a quadriplegic. I have some use of my legs, good arm movement and some hand movement, but I can only use my thumbs and left index finger for typing.

So I was very interested when I saw the Wired article “Transforming Thoughts Into Deeds.” The story is mainly about a company called Cyberkinetics and their brain-computer interface called Braingate, which has already allowed monkeys to move a cursor with their thoughts. Clinical trials should begin sometime this year and a product might be on the market by 2007.

Other companies and researchers are working in the same field, but only Cyberkinetics appears to be close to a commercial product. While it seems likely that I will walk again to a degree and that more hand function will return with time, it’s nice to know people are working on these things.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 14th, 2004 at 4:13 pm and is filed under Information Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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2 Responses to “Computer interface for the brain”

1. Library Monk Says:
   January 18th, 2004 at 10:43 pm

   I have a parent, girlfriend and many extended family and friends doing anything they can to help me out.

   Thanks for your concern.

2. cgeorge Says:
   January 18th, 2004 at 3:06 pm

   I’ve been reading about your acident and how your situation is now. I was wondering if you have someone helping you out like a girlfriend, or a parent, ect.?

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