The Rise of the Cyborgs
VTPP 434 - Susan Vanderzyl
Scientists are melding humans and machines to help the paralyzed walk, the mute speak, and the near-dead return to life.
Philip Kennedy is the chief scientist of Neural Signals, a company he founded in 1987 to develop a brain-computer interface, or BCI, though he prefers the term “neural prosthetics.” The devices created by Kennedy and a handful of others can decode the conscious intentions conveyed by neural signals. For those who are missing a leg or who have a broken spine, the signals can control computers, wheelchairs, and prosthetic limbs. The devices can translate neural signals to spell out words on a computer screen. Spoken language through a voice synthesizer is coming soon.
Although his current work is aimed at the severely disabled and locked-in, Kennedy believes neural prosthetics will have applications for the well-bodied, too. In 1996 the FDA gave Kennedy the go-ahead for human trials. His first great triumph came with test subject Johnny Ray, who had had a massive stroke. Ray finally woke up unable to move or communicate except by the slightest quiver of a few muscles in his face, what doctors call “locked-in.” Kennedy and Emory neurosurgeon Roy Bakay implanted a Neurotrophic Electrode near the part of Ray’s brain that controlled his left hand. The outer end was attached to an amplifier and radio transmitter on his skull under the scalp. In the months that followed, Kennedy encouraged Ray to think about moving a computer mouse with his hand. After more months of practice, Ray had learned to control the cursor without thinking about moving his paralyzed arm. Neural activity that had been linked to arm and hand movement had changed. Now his brain was communicating directly with the computer.
Discover Magazine
Scientists are melding humans and machines to help the paralyzed walk, the mute speak, and the near-dead return to life.
Philip Kennedy is the chief scientist of Neural Signals, a company he founded in 1987 to develop a brain-computer interface, or BCI, though he prefers the term “neural prosthetics.” The devices created by Kennedy and a handful of others can decode the conscious intentions conveyed by neural signals. For those who are missing a leg or who have a broken spine, the signals can control computers, wheelchairs, and prosthetic limbs. The devices can translate neural signals to spell out words on a computer screen. Spoken language through a voice synthesizer is coming soon.
Although his current work is aimed at the severely disabled and locked-in, Kennedy believes neural prosthetics will have applications for the well-bodied, too. In 1996 the FDA gave Kennedy the go-ahead for human trials. His first great triumph came with test subject Johnny Ray, who had had a massive stroke. Ray finally woke up unable to move or communicate except by the slightest quiver of a few muscles in his face, what doctors call “locked-in.” Kennedy and Emory neurosurgeon Roy Bakay implanted a Neurotrophic Electrode near the part of Ray’s brain that controlled his left hand. The outer end was attached to an amplifier and radio transmitter on his skull under the scalp. In the months that followed, Kennedy encouraged Ray to think about moving a computer mouse with his hand. After more months of practice, Ray had learned to control the cursor without thinking about moving his paralyzed arm. Neural activity that had been linked to arm and hand movement had changed. Now his brain was communicating directly with the computer.
Discover Magazine
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