Paralyzed Man Finally Feeds Himself Through a Pair of Robotic Arms Connected to His Brain for the First Time in 30 Years

A partially paralyzed man has recently been in tech reports after being able to feed himself for the first time in three decades after robotic arms were connected to his brain.

The man was able to feed himself for the first time in 30 years following two robotic arms' success in cutting a piece of cake and putting it in his mouth using a fork and knife when instructions were relayed through a computerized voice, The Daily Star reported.

In an experiment, the man is instructed to sit at a table with one piece of cake on a plate. Then, a pair of robotic arms, one fork in one, and a knife in the other, cut the dessert and had it delivered to the mouth of the subject.

Instructed by Computerized Voice

The computerized voice delivers the instructions it's receiving from the man's brain, saying, "moving the fork to food" and "retracting knife."

Then, the man slightly moves his arms to bring the cake to him as the computer speaks and says, "Moving food to the mouth."

As indicated in the study carried out at Johns Hopkins Medical Centre in Maryland, the United States, a brain-machine interface develops a direct link to the robotic arms.

This accomplishment is part of an investigation by American researchers who hope to assist people with disabilities by creating robots that can operate using brain signals and need physical movement.

According to Dr. Francesco Tenore, they are excited about providing users with limited capability with a true sense of control over increasingly intelligent machines. He added, that their goal is to make it easy for the user to regulate a few things that matter most for particular tasks.

Integrating Robot Anatomy with Limited Human Input

Many challenges still lie ahead, including improved task execution regarding preciseness and timing, as well as closed-loop control minus the constant need for visual feedback.

Dr. David Handelman, senior roboticist and the first author of the paper, said their work, published in Frontiers in Neurorobotics, showcases one of the most essential advances in robotics, which is integrating robot anatomy with limited human input.

This means that the machine is doing most of the work while the user can regulate the robot's movement to suit their needs.

The senior roboticist also said that for robots to carry out human-like tasks for people with reduced functionality, they will need human-like dexterity.

Essentially, human-like dexterity needs multifaceted, complex control of a complicated robot-skeleton. A similar Scimex report said, according to Handelman, is to make it easy for the user to control a couple of things that matter for particular tasks.

A report about the robotic arms connected to the brain is shown on Rizzbag's YouTube video below:

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