Category: BCI

  • Brain-Kinect Interface for rehabilitation

    Brain-Kinect Interface for rehabilitation

    http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-658-02897-8_18 John Edison Muñoz Cardona, a Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira student, has developed a Brain-Kinect Interface for rehabilitation.  It combines bio-mechanical signals acquired by the Kinect sensor with signals from the Emotiv EPOC headset. The combination of motion capture signals and EEG-based BCI is used for interaction in a rehabilitation game for patients with motor and/or cognitive impairments. The system…

  • Cortical-spinal prosthesis directs “targeted movement” in paralyzed limbs

    Cortical-spinal prosthesis directs “targeted movement” in paralyzed limbs

    http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140218/ncomms4237/full/ncomms4237.html Cornell‘s Maryam Shanechi, Harvard‘s Ziv Williams and colleagues developed a cortical-spinal prosthesis that directs “targeted movement” in paralyzed limbs. They tested a prosthesis that connects two subjects by enabling one subject to send its recorded neural activity to control limb movements in a different subject that is temporarily sedated. The BMI is based on a set of real-time…

  • Pentagon considers electric brain stimulation for troops

    Pentagon considers electric brain stimulation for troops

    Boston Globe article APA paper The US Air Force has completed 5 studies to investigate if low level electrical stimulation can replace caffeine for fatigued troops who oversee the processing of digital information, including surveillance and drone footage. The research grew out of a recognition that while computers have automated many military functions, humans are…

  • Wirelessly charged cochlear implant with no external hardware

    Wirelessly charged cochlear implant with no external hardware

    http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2014/cochlear-implants-with-no-exterior-hardware-0209.html MIT scientists have developed a low power signal processing chip that could lead to a cochlear implant requiring no external hardware.  Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary doctors collaborated with the researchers.  The implant would be wirelessly recharged and run for eight hours. Instead of an external microphone,  the implant would…

  • Neurofeedback alters brain plasticity in PTSD

    Neurofeedback alters brain plasticity in PTSD

    1. Tel Aviv University paper   2. Schulich School of Medicine paper Professor Ruth Lanius and colleagues at Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine have published a study showing that neurofeedback can improve subjective wellbeing in PTSD, potentially leading to new treatment options. Schulich researchers claim that this is “the first study to show that key brain networks involved in…

  • Collaborative cloud system for human-serving robots

    Collaborative cloud system for human-serving robots

    http://www.roboearth.org/what-is-roboearth RoboEarth’s goal is to speed the development of human-serving robots. Scientists from five European universities gathered this week for its launch and demonstrated potential applications. This included a robot scanning a room’s physical layout, including the location of the patient’s bed, and the placing a carton of milk on a nearby table. The system is…

  • Minimally invasive multi-channel control system for prosthetics tested

    http://www.multivu.com/mnr/65112-alfred-mann-foundation-u-s-marine-subject-fda-study-for-imes-system The Alfred Mann Foundation‘s first subject, a U.S. Marine, will receive its IMES System (implantable myoelectric sensor).   The experimental system could be the first minimally invasive, intuitive, multi-channel control system for prosthetics, intended for long term use. It is being studied under the Investigational Device Exemption regulations of the U.S. Food and Drug…

  • K supercomputer runs largest neural simulation to date

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/10567942/Supercomputer-models-one-second-of-human-brain-activity.html RIKEN, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, and Forschungszentrum Jülich researchers have used Japan’s K computer to run the longest brain simulation to date.With 705,024 processor cores, running at speeds of over 10 petaflops, it is ranked the world’s fourth-most powerful computer. Using Neural Simulation Technology software and 92,944 of its processors, the computer replicated one second of…

  • Paraplegic may kick off 2014 FIFA World Cup using brain controlled exoskeleton

    http://www.copa2014.gov.br/en/noticia/brazilian-neuroscientist-miguel-nicolelis-unveil-walk-again-project-fifa-world-cup-brazil Duke Professor Miguel Nicolelis‘s brain controlled exoskeleton technology may enable a paraplegic teen to kick off the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.  The plan is for the teenager to walk onto the field, cock back a foot, and swing at a soccer ball, using a mechanical exoskeleton controlled by his/her brain. Motorized metal braces tested…

  • Johns Hopkins develops thought controlled prosthetic arm and “targeted innervation” technique

    http://hub.jhu.edu/2013/01/02/prosthetic-arm-60-minutes The number of researchers developing advanced prosthetics, particularly thought controlled limbs, is increasing rapidly. This can significantly impact the lives of many.  In Johns Hopkins Universty’s Applied Physics Lab, a motorized arm with a five fingered hand that operates much like human hand is nearing completion. Professor Michael McLoughlin and trauma surgeon Albert Chi have developed a…

  • “Neural Dust” records from thousands of sites in the brain

    http://arxiv.org/abs/1307.2196 Current Brain-computer interfaces offer finite resolution, are hard to apply to many brain regions, and can only stay directly connected to the brain for a short period of time due to their invasiveness. Berkeley researchers have proposed an ultra-small, ultrasound-based neural recording system called “neural dust”.  It consists of thousands of sensors that are 10-100 micrometers…

  • Kinect training promotes brain reorganization after stroke

    http://www.nrronline.org/article.asp?issn=1673-5374;year=2013;volume=8;issue=31;spage=2904;epage=2913;aulast=Bao;type=0 Sun Yat-sen University researchers claim that Kinect based virtual reality training could promote the recovery of upper limb motor function in subacute stroke patients, and brain reorganization by Kinect based training may be linked to the contralateral sensorimotor cortex.  They have completed a study in which they located the target brain region for Kinect…