Tom Shakespeare

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A Man was able to move all four of their paralyzed limbs with a mind-controlled exoskeleton suit, according to French researchers.

Thibault, 30, said he felt his First Steps in The Suit as the "First Man on The Moon ".

His movements, especially walking, are far from perfect, and the robo-suit is only in the laboratory.

But the researchers say the approach could One Day improve the quality of Life of the patients

How does it work?

Thibault had surgery to place two implants on The Surface of The Brain , that the parts of The Brain the control of the movement

Sixty-four electrodes on each implant you can read the activity of The Brain and the beam of the instructions to a nearby computer

- Sophisticated computer software that reads brain waves and converts these into instructions for the control of the exoskeleton

Thibault has to be strapped in the exoskeleton

When he thinks, "foot", it triggers a chain of movements in the robotic suit, move his legs forward

And he can manoeuvre the control of each of the arms, in three-dimensional space

How To use it?

Thibault, who don't want to betrayed his surname, to the optician, before he fell 15 metres in an incident in a Night Club four years ago.

The injury to his Spinal Cord left him paralyzed, and he spent the next two years in the hospital.

But in the year of 2017, he took part in the exoskeleton of study with Clinatec and the University of Grenoble.

First, he practiced control with brain-implants, play a virtual character, or avatar in a computer, he then went on to walk in The Suit .

"It was like [the] First Man on The Moon . I didn't want to go for two years. I have forgotten what it is to stand, I forgot I was bigger than a lot of other people in The Room ," he said.

It took a lot longer to learn How To control the arms.

"It was very difficult, because it is a combination of several muscles and movements. This is The Most impressive, what do I do with the exoskeleton. "

How well the exoskeleton is?

The 65kg sophisticated robotics is not fully restore function.

However, there is a clear progress on similar approaches that enable people to control a single limb with their thoughts.

Thibault needs to be in a blanket belt, to minimize The Risk of him falling over in the exoskeleton - it means The Device is not yet ready to move outside of the laboratory.

"This is far from the Autonomous walking," Professor Alim-Louis Benabid, The President of the Clinatec Board of Directors, told Bbc News .

"He has not The Quick and precise movements, not to fall, nobody on earth is doing this. "

In the case of tasks, to touch in which Thibault had specific objectives to move by using the exoskeleton, his upper and lower arms and rotate his wrists, he was successful in 71% of the time.

Prof Benabid, who has deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease, told the BBC: "We have solved the problem and shown, The Principle is correct. This is a proof of this we will extend the mobility of patients in a exoskeleton.

"This is in [the] direction to a better quality of Life . "

What is the next step?

The French scientists say they can more technique to Refine the.

At the moment, you are limited to send by the amount of data that you can read from The Brain , to interpret a computer, and send to the exoskeleton in real time.

you have 350 milliseconds to go from the thought to the movement, since otherwise The System is difficult to control.

It means that out of the 64 electrodes on each implant, the researchers with only 32.

So there is still the potential, to read, to interpret The Brain in detail, with more powerful computers and AI, The Information from The Brain .

There are also to develop plans, the finger enable control Thibault pick up and move objects.

He has already used The Implant to control a wheelchair.

since sinister roles for this technology Are more?

There are scientists are studying ways of using exoskeletons to improve human capabilities, an area known as TRANS-humanism, rather than paralysis to overcome.

This includes.

"We are Absolutely Not in the direction of this extreme and stupid applications," Professor Benabid told the BBC.

"Our job is the repair of injured patients the lost function. "

- What experts say?

Prof Tom Shakespeare , from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said that while this study is a "warmly welcome and exciting progress," proof-of-concept was a long way from a usable clinical possibility.

"A danger of hype always exists in this area. Cost restrictions mean that hi-tech options are never available for the majority of people in The World with Spinal Cord injuries. "

Only 15% of people with disabilities had said a wheelchair or other assistive devices, he.

Details of the exoskeleton have been journal.

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brain, france, disability, paralysis, medical research, neurology

Source of news: bbc.com