A new 'telepathic' robot arm for paralysed patients

The technology allows users to control, with their thoughts, robotic legs and below-elbow amputees to control neuroprosthetic limbs.

The new project will be one of the first to design the system for stroke survivors, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

The research led by Rice University and the University of Houston, has led to the development of an exo-skeleton which covers the arm from fingertips to elbow and can help perform simple tasks.

The arm also gently assists, and sometimes resists movement to build strength and accuracy.

The new neurotechnology will interpret brain waves using an EEG neural interface, which can read thought patterns and assign them to movements.

Repetitive motion has proven effective at retraining motor nerve pathways damaged by a stroke, but patients must be motivated to do the work, said principal investigator Marcia O'Malley, associate professor at Rice and director of Rice's Mechatronics and Haptic Interfaces Lab.

"With a lot of robotics, if you want to engage the patient, the robot has to know what the patient is doing. If the patient tries to move, the robot has to anticipate that and help," she said.

Initially, the devices will translate brain waves from healthy subjects into control outputs to operate the MAHI-EXO II robot, and then from stroke survivors who have some ability to initiate movements, to prompt the robot into action.

That will allow the team to refine the robot interface before moving to a clinical population of stroke patients with no residual upper-limb function.

The intelligent exoskeleton will use thoughts to trigger repetitive motions and retrain the brain's motor networks.