Category: BCI
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Phillip Alvelda: More intelligent; less artificial | ApplySci @ Stanford
Cortical founder and former DARPA NESD program manager Phillip Alvelda discusses AI and the brain at ApplySci’s Wearable Tech + Digital Health + Neurotech Silicon Valley conference on February 26-27, 2018 at Stanford University: Join ApplySci at the 9th Wearable Tech + Digital Health + Neurotech Boston conference – September 25, 2018 at the MIT Media…
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Software records, organizes, analyzes 1 million neurons in real-time
Martin Garwicz and Lund University colleagues have developed a novel method for recording, organizing, and analyzing enormous amounts of neurohysiological data from implanted brain computer interfaces. The technology simultaneously acquires data from 1 million neurons in real time. It converts spike data and sends it for processing and storage on conventional systems. Subject feedback is provided in…
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Lightweight, highly portable, brain-controlled exoskeleton
EPFL’s José Millán has developed a brain-controlled, highly portable exoskeleton, that can be quickly secured around joints with velcro. Metal cables act as soft tendons on the back of each finger, with the palm free to feel hand sensations. Motors that push and pull the cables are worn on the chest. Fingers are flexed when…
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Closed loop EEG/BCI/VR/physical therapy system to control gait, prosthetics
Earlier this year, University of Houston’s Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal developed a closed-loop BCI/EEG/VR/physical therapy system to control gait as part of a stroke/spinal cord injury rehab program. The goal was to promote and enhance cortical involvement during walking. In a study, 8 subjects walked on a treadmill while watching an avatar and wearing a 64…
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VR + neurofeedback for movement training after stroke
USC’s Sook-Lei Liew is using VR to help motor-impaired stroke patients promote brain plasticity. The goal is to train them to move their limbs again. Her REINVENT study uses BCI to control an avatar. Electrical signatures of brain activity are meaured with EEG, and muscle activity with EMG. When signals in brain or muscle activity that correspond…
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Direct brain path for sight, sound via implanted microscope
Rice University’s Jacob Robinson, with Yale and Columbia colleagues, are developing FlatScope — a flat, brain implanted microscope that monitors and triggers neurons which are modified to be fluorescent when active. While capturing greater detail than current brain probes, the microscope also goes through deep levels that illustrate sensory input processing — which they hope to…
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BCI-controlled exoskeleton helps motor recovery in stroke
Ipsihand, developed by Eric Leuthardt and Washington University colleagues, is a brain controlled glove that helps reroute hand control to an undamaged part of the brain. The system uses a glove or brace on the hand, an EEG cap, and an amplifier. One’s hands are controlled by the opposite side of the brain. If one hemisphere…
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Tetraplegic patient moves arm with thoughts via BCI/FES system
Bolu Ajiboye and Case Western colleagues used an implanted BrainGate2 brain-computer interface to allow a tetraplegia patient to control arm movements via an implanted FES muscle stimulation system. A robotic arm, which was needed in previous BrainGate experiments, was no longer required. Neural activity was recorded from two 96-channel microelectrode arrays implanted in the motor…
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Magnetic coils might improve neural prostheses
Neocortex stimulation is used to treat neurological disorders, including Parkinson’s disease and paralysis. Current electrode-based implants have limited efficacy. It is difficult to create precise patterns of neural activity, or to achieve consistent responses over time. This can be addressed by magnetic stimulation, but until now, coils small enough to be implanted into the cortex…
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Toward a speech-driven auditory Brain Computer Interface
University of Oldenburg student Carlos Filipe da Silva Souto is in the early stages of developing a brain computer interface that can advise a user who he/she is listening to in a noisy room. Wearers could focus on specific conversations, and tune out background noise. Most BCI studies have focused on visual stimuli, which typically outperforms…
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BCI controlled robotic arm; no implant required
University of Minnesota professor Bin He has created a brain computer interface to control a robotic arm with out an implant. In a recent study, EEG alone was used to allow 8 people to move objects in a complex 3D environment. Combined with advanced signal processing and machine learning, thoughts were turned into actions. 64…
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Implanted device enables slow, but more reliable, brain-driven typing
UMC Utrecht professor Nick Ramsey has developed an implantable brain computer interface that allowed a locked-in ALS patient to (very slowly) translate her thoughts into text. Until recently, the patient used eye tracking to spell words on a computer screen, as many ALS patients do. However, as 1/3 of patients lose the ability to control their eyes,…