Research News
Controlled by software capable of learning, the robotic arm can be moved by the power of thought. Photo: DLR
Brain Signals Control Robotic Arm
A worldwide unique assist system enables fully paralysed people to control a robotic arm by using brain signals only. For this development, Prof. Dr Patrick van der Smagt, expert for robotics at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), and the neuroscientist Prof. Dr John P. Donoghue, Brown University, USA, receive the Erwin Schrödinger Prize 2012, awarded by turns by the Helmholtz Association and by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft, the business community's innovation agency for the German science system.
In order to enable the patient to control the robotic arm with the power of thought only, the researchers have developed a software capable of learning, which translates signals from the patient's brain into signals controlling the robotic arm. In 2011, a female patient thus managed to use the robotic arm to lift a drinking bottle and straw to her mouth. This was the first time the woman could independently drink since a stroke 15 years ago left her paralysed from the neck downwards. Controlling the robotic arm did not require her to first complete extensive training. All she needed to do was to imagine moving her own arm in a corresponding manner. This image triggered signals within the brain's motor cortex. A small implant, developed in cooperation with the Brown University, which was placed inside the patient's skull, transmitted these signals, so they conse-cutively could be processed by a learning algorithm to translate into the desired control commands. The scientists then constantly optimised this algorithm.
Neuroscientists had previously proven that it is possible to control the cursor on a screen by "thoughts" alone. Patrick van der Smagt, however, now has managed to transfer this basic possibility to the significantly more complex, three-dimensional control of a robotic arm. This development is a technological breakthrough with great potential in significantly facilitating the lives of people with disabilities. This breakthrough was made possible only by close cooperation between experts from the fields of neurosciences, robotics and software development. With the Erwin Schrödinger Prize, the Stifterverband and the Helmholtz Association intend to honour teams of scientists incorporating several disciplines and thereby achieving special innovations.
