BrainGate

BrainGate is a brain implant system, currently under development and in clinical trials, designed to help those who have lost control of their limbs, or other bodily functions, such as patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or spinal cord injury.

[3] The procedure, which was performed at the Radcliffe Infirmary, involved the implantation of the array in the peripheral nerves of the subject in order to successfully bring about both motor and sensory functionality, i.e. bi-directional signalling.

[4] The subsequent full clinical trial of BrainGate was led by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, Brown University, and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and ran from 2004 to 2006, involving the study of four patients with tetraplegia.

The results, published in a 2006 article in the journal Nature, showed that a human with tetraplegia was able to control a cursor on a computer screen just by thinking, enabling him to open emails, and to operate devices such as a television.

In May 2012, BrainGate researchers published a study in Nature demonstrating that two people paralyzed by brainstem stroke several years earlier were able to control robotic arms for reaching and grasping.