A breakthrough brain implant has enabled a 69-year-old man with paralysis to fly a virtual drone using just his mind.
The surgical implant could help detect and decode the fingers that the paralysed person intended to move, allowing him to control the flight of a quadcopter in a specially designed video game.
Millions of people across the globe live with severe physical impairments and training using such brain implants is increasingly being recognised as a potential solution for restoring movement.
However, current examples of the technology struggle to decode complex movements paralysed people intend to perform such as those of individual fingers.
If these specific movements could be restored with therapy, they could slowly learn to perform activities like typing or playing musical instruments.
In the latest study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, scientists developed a brain implant to enable the participant’s own request to fly a drone.
Researchers implanted the device in the person’s left precentral gyrus brain region responsible for hand movement control.
The device continuously records the electrical activity of nerve cells in the brain, especially patterns linked to complex physical movements.
Researchers recorded the nerve cell activity pattern of the participant as he observed a virtual hand performing various movements.
Scientists then used artificial intelligence algorithms to identify the brain signals specifically linked to specific finger movements.
These signals could guide the AI system to accurately predict finger movements intended by the participant.
Using this information, researchers enabled the participant to control three distinct finger groups, including two-dimensional thumb movements, in a virtual hand.
Researchers say this level of movement precision and freedom had not been previously possible.
Scientists extended the application of virtual finger control into a quadcopter video game.
Finger movements decoded by the brain implant were programmed to control the speed and direction of an in-game quadcopter.
The implant allowed the man to pilot the drone through multiple obstacles, even passing through randomly appearing rings in the game.
“This approach to use fine motor control for iBCI-controlled video games can meet unmet needs of people with paralysis,” scientists wrote.
“The participant expressed or demonstrated a sense of enablement, recreation, and social connectedness that addresses many of the unmet needs of people with paralysis,” they said.
This latest advance could lead to better implants helping paralysed people move on-screen cursors, paving the way for more advanced online functions like emailing, surging through social media posts, or streaming shows.
