People living with severe neurological conditions often lose the ability to move or speak due to spinal cord injuries and other progressive diseases. A new breakthrough in brain computer interface (BCI) technology is offering hope to these patients. Dr Matthew Willsey, a neurosurgeon and engineer, is helping bring advanced brain-computer technology into hospitals. He recently became the first doctor to implant a fully implantable brain-computer device that allows patients to control digital systems using only their thoughts. Unlike earlier systems that depended on external wires and computers, this new technology works entirely inside the body.
Dr Matthew Willsey earned both his undergraduate and master’s degrees in electrical engineering from MIT. His research involved finding useful information within complex signals. This experience later became an important part of his work in brain-computer interface technology. He developed a new way to help people with paralysis communicate and interact with the world around them.
The BCI technology connects the brain directly to the machines or devices. Even if the person suffers from paralysis, he or she would produce signals when trying to move an arm or utter something with the mouth. In such cases, the nerve pathway that sends these signals to the physical body is broken.
Besides that, BCI overcomes this issue through detecting the signals generated by the brain and translating them to machine-understandable commands. That way, it is possible for patients to send messages or command the system even when they are unable to perform any movements or utter anything with the mouth.
The device implanted by Dr Willsey was developed by Paradromics. It is designed to work around damaged neural pathways. This brain-computer interface makes use of very small electrodes which are attached to the brain and can detect electrical impulses from individual brain cells. Machine learning programmes analyse the electrical impulses and decode the actions meant by the person.
Also read: Want your split AC to consume less electricity? Follow these 5 tips
Older brain-computer interfaces used wires that went into the body and connected to devices outside it. Which majorly had two issues. One, there was a higher chance of infection, and second, there was less freedom to move around.
However, the new version is different, as it sits entirely inside the body and solves both issues. When you compare it to the old version, you find that it’s safer and more comfortable. Especially when used in the long run. Furthermore, it also allows the patients to move around more freely because they won’t have any wires or devices attached to them on the outside.