Why is research on brain-computer interfaces taking off now?
Now that computer capacity has greatly expanded, we have the ability to digitize and process many individual neural signals simultaneously and apply more sophisticated mathematical decoding algorithms to those signals. What are you doing at the FES Center? The goal at the center is to restore movement and function to people with paralysis from spinal cord injury, stroke or other neurological disorders. Movement is restored by applying low levels of electrical current to the peripheral nerves to activate paralyzed muscles. My particular role is to decode one’s intended arm and hand movements from the brain. Basically, we are reconnecting the brain to the muscles so people can control their paralyzed limb just by thinking about doing so. Intended movements can also be used to control other technologies, such as prosthetic limbs, assistive robots or a computer mouse. What needs to be done to really advance the state of the art? Everyone is making small, incremental improvements in algorit
