Well hey there, science. A recent breakthrough at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre has allowed a 30-year-old man who hasn’t been able to move arms, hands or legs in the past seven years to take control of a robotic hand, marking an unprecedented achievement in neuro-robotics.

Said, the Gazette Post:

[Time Hennes] the 30-year-old man from Connoquenessing Township, Butler County, hadn’t moved his arms, hands or legs since a motorcycle accident seven years earlier. But Mr. Hemmes had practiced six hours a day, six days a week for nearly a month to move the arm with his mind.
That successful act increases hope for people with paralysis or loss of limbs that they can feed and dress themselves and open doors, among other tasks, with a mind-controlled robotic arm. It’s also improved the prospects of wiring around spinal cord injuries to allow motionless arms and legs to function once again.

The process was by no means a straightforward one – Hemmes had to undergo extensive surgery to install the hardware necessary to pick up on his brainwaves and communicate those to the prosthetic itself, followed by about a month of training. Even so, Hemmes and his girlfriend – whose hand he was able to ‘hold’ with the prosthetic – said that the accomplishment represent a step towards a “cure” for paralysis.

Naturally, the UPMC research team is a little more cautious about making huge claims like that, but still. Go science.

[Source: Gazette Post]