Cyborg for 7 Years: 36-Year-Old Man Lived Wearing a Brain-Computer Interface for Almost a Decade and His Implant Still Robustly Functions

Thirty-six-year-old Nathan Copeland had lived with a brain-computer interface for over seven years and three months. He considers himself a cyborg.

As of this writing, a WIRED report specified that is the longest a person has had an implant like this. An electrode array, the same size as a pencil eraser, surgically embedded in his motor cortex, translates his neural impulses into commands that enable him to regulate the external device. Specifically, he can move with only his thoughts with a computer, video games, and robotic arm.

Implanted devices let people control computers and prosthetic limbs with their minds. But nobody knows how long they’ll last—and when they’ll need upgrades. https://t.co/9ijhfvrERl
— WIRED Science (@WIREDScience) August 17, 2022

A car accident in the early 2000s left Copeland paralyzed from his chest down; he could not feel his limbs. Then, in 2014, he joined research at the University of Pittsburgh for people who have spinal cord injuries to find out if a brain-computer interface or BCI could restore some of the functionality this man had lost,

He did not hesitate to register, even though it would necessitate brain surgery, and no one knew how long the device would continue to function.

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(Photo: JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
Neuro interface patient Nathan Copeland, a quadriplegic brain implant patient who can experience the sensation of touch and control a remote robotic arm with his brain, listens as US President Barack Obama speaks while touring innovation projects at the White House Frontiers Conference at the University of Pittsburg in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on October 13, 2016.

A Robust Brain Implant

When describing his brain implant, Copeland said when he started, people said it would perhaps last five years, and those years were "based on monkey data" since no human had ever experienced it.

That implant of Copeland is still functioning, and has not caused any major side effects or complications, is considered "promising for the field."

It is an indication that the devices, which have been in progress since the 1960s, although still experimental, are moving nearer to commercial reality for patients suffering from severe disabilities.

According to the director of the University of Michigan Direct Brain Interface Laboratory Jane Juggins, who is not part of this Pittsburgh research, "It feels like it is on the borderline of being practical."

BCI Construction

To construct a BCI detailed in a ScienceDirect report, the developers need to translate those neural signals into digital commands that allow the wearer to control a prosthetic limb or a computer.

BrainGate, the system Copeland uses in particular, involves an embedded array, a cable running from a nickel-sized pedestal on his head to an outer device amplifying his neural signals, and a computer that's running software to decode such signals.

In the 1980s, Richard Normann first conceived of the Utah array as a professor of bioengineering at the University of Utah, where he was interested in discovering an approach to restoring vision. It is since turned into the gold standard for BCI studies.

The entire field is developed on the Utah array, explained Matt Angle, the Texas-based BCI company, Paradromics CEO.

What Lies Ahead

Given the unknowns of the longevity of BCIs, Copeland, also featured in SuperRare Magazine, knows his implant could stop functioning someday.

However, he's trying not to worry about it. He said he's not worried about things and goes with the flow.

That said, this "cyborg" would not turn down an upgrade. In five years or a decade, if there is something that would have substantial improvements, he would undergo surgery again and go for it.

A related report about Nathan Copeland is shown on UPMC's YouTube video below: