Making Mind-Controlled Medical Technology A Reality

New research is paving the way for thought-controlled medical technology.

Anca Ralescu, a professor at the University of Cincinnati, recently revealed the results of experiments that are moving computer science in that direction. 

Her experiments aim to enable subjects to communicate with a computer using their thoughts alone. The intention is to tell the computer if they plan to move their bodies. The experiments used electroencephalography, a measure of the brain's electrical activity, according to a report from the university. 

Ralescu's experiments "specifically targeted brain impulses generated when a person thought about going from a sitting position to standing and vice versa," the report said. "Computers process this data — which can be reinforced by combining it with measures of electrical activity in muscle — in order to detect these brain signals and interpret their intent." 

"The problem is quite difficult," Ralescu said. "We are experimenting with processing the signal and selecting useful features from it, and designing a classifier capable of distinguishing between the these two transitions — sitting to standing and standing to sitting."

Other researchers at the university are building "a spring-assisted leg exoskeleton that can help people stand and sit," according to a separate report. The experiments could prove useful to scientists designing technology to help elderly patients, stroke victims, and paraplegics gain independent movement.

American Heart Association research sees potential in though-controlled technology, as well, Bloomberg reported this week. 

"Virtual reality hands controlled by thought may help stroke patients recover the use of their limbs, according to a study testing whether the brain-computer system could be a new rehabilitation tool," the report said. 

Six stroke patients had as much as 81 percent accuracy "in reaching virtual hands to a glass of tea or water viewed on a computer screen, and they improved their skills in as few as three two-hour sessions," Bloomberg said.

“Using a brain-computer interface, we’ve created an environment where people who may be too physically impaired to move can practice mental imagery to help regain use of their arms and hands,” said Alexander Doud, the lead author, said in an announcement from the American Heart Association. 

A product called NeuroRex, from Rex Bionics, is already helping show the potential of thought-controlled technology for the health fields, Popular Mechanics recently reported. 

"Future exoskeletons will ditch the crutches and be driven by thought alone, freeing the user's hands and making it possible for people who are paralyzed from the neck down to also get around using exoskeleton technology," the report said. 

NeuroRex "is an adaptation of an exoskeleton that is modified with an electroencephalography (EEG) cap that reads electrical activity in the brain."