Dr. Fadi Radwan
Cathy Hutchinson, paralyzed for 15 years, took a sip of a cinnamon latte for the first time without help last year. A team from BrainGate had implanted a sensor in her brain in 2005, and spent the next several years fine-tuning it until she was able to move a robotic arm by thinking about it.
The BrainGate sensor taps into the flurry of brain activity, recording electrical signals that can be translated into movement commands.
The team is working on making the system wireless, and eventually, scientists think the device will be able to control a person’s own muscles, not just external devices.