After the implantation of the chip, the participant, Ian Burkhart, received as many as three weekly sessions for 15 months to learn how to use the neural bypass system. The system works by taking signals from the brain, processing them through a computer and into a sleeve wrapped around a patient’s arm. The system and arduous training allowed Mr. Burkhart to pour from a bottle, pick up a straw and play a guitar videogame.
“It’s crazy because I had lost sensation in my hands, and I had to watch my hand to know whether I was squeezing or extending the fingers,” Mr. Burkhart said in The New York Times.
In regards to the researchers’ accomplishments, Rajesh Rao, PhD, the director of the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering at the University of Washington in Seattle, told the Times, “It’s an advance toward a goal we all have, to provide as much independence to these patients as possible.”
Funding for the project, which includes money from Ohio State University in Columbus, is set to expire this year.
“That’s going to be difficult, because I’ve enjoyed it so much,” Mr. Burkhart told the Times, regarding the potential dissipation of funds. “If I could take the thing home, it would give me so much more independence…I just want other people to hear about this and know that there’s hope. Something will come around that makes living with this injury better.”
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