IEEE 125th Anniversary Media Event: Brain-Machine Interface Technology

During the past decade, neuroscientists working at the Duke University Center for Neuroengineering have designed, implemented, and tested the operation of a real-time brain-machine interface in a variety of experimental paradigms.  The possibility of establishing direct functional links between living brain tissue and robotic and computational devices has been repeatedly demonstrated during this time. These demonstrations have indicated that such BMIs could lead, in the near future, to the emergence of a new generation of neuroprosthetic devices aimed at restoring a variety of neurological functions in severely handicapped patients.

Based on this context, Dr. Nicolelis and his team will launch the Walk Again Project (WAP), the first worldwide, non-profit brain research initiative aimed at building a neuroprosthetic device capable of restoring full-body mobility in severely paralyzed patients. To achieve this goal, Dr. Nicolelis and his team have spent the last three years assembling an international team of neurophysiologists, computer scientists, engineers, roboticists, neurologists, and neurosurgeons who will collaborate with the goal of achieving the milestone of making a quadriplegic patient walk again by the end of 2012.

Looking ahead, Dr. Nicolelis is developing technology that will not only allow the human brain to communicate with machines, but will allow the machine to communication back to the human without use of sight or touch.  In the more distant future, he believes his work will lead to the ability to communicate from human brain to human brain.