Watch a Monkey Control a Wheelchair With Its Brain

D-brief
By Nathaniel Scharping
Mar 4, 2016 1:33 AMDec 18, 2019 8:38 PM
Monkey controlling wheelchair with mind - Duke
A rhesus macaque reaches for a treat while perched atop a wheelchair it controls with its mind. (Credit: Shawn Rocco/Duke Health)

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This a motorized wheelchair is so simple, even a monkey can drive it.

In another step forward for the field of Brain-Machine-Interactions (BMI), researchers from Duke University's Medical Center have taught a monkey to operate a wheelchair using only its brain. The system uses an array of microwire electrodes implanted in the monkey's skull to read its brain activity and translate those signals into physical commands. 

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