Monkeys Navigate a Wheelchair With Their Thoughts

Scientists at Duke University have demonstrated a wireless brain-machine interface (BMI) that allows monkeys to navigate a robotic wheelchair using their thoughts. This is the first long-term wireless BMI implant that has given high-quality signals to precisely control a wheelchair's movements in real time. "This is the first wireless brain-machine interface for whole-body locomotion," says Miguel Nicolelis, professor of neuroscience at Duke who led the work published in the journal Scientific Reports. "Even severely disabled patients who cannot move any part of their body could be placed on a wheelchair and be able to use this device for mobility." Nicolelis and his colleagues pioneered brain-machine interfaces in a 1999 study on rats.