ON DECRYPT
This is a world first, and it took place in France. Thibault, a 28-year-old tetraplegic young man, was able to walk again thanks to an exoskeleton.
This robot is a kind of armor in which it is possible to slide a paralyzed patient of the four limbs. The results of the clinical study of the Brain Computer Interface (BCI) project, conducted at Clinatec, a CEA research center in Grenoble, were published Thursday in The Lancet Neurology .
The innovation is not so much in the armor but rather in the fact that the patient can direct this robot by the thought. The exoskeleton collects and allows, in fact, to transmit all cerebral signals in real time. So just think "I want to move the left foot", so that the foot moves in the exoskeleton, and this, in real time.
The technology will soon be tested on a new patient
This mental control is made possible by an original sensor that Clinatec researchers implanted on the surface of the patient's skull. Inside the sensor, 64 electrodes collect electrical signals and intention of movement of the brain, and decode them in real time. This sends the order to the exoskeleton to move. Thanks to this system, Thibault, completely paralyzed after a spinal cord injury, is again able, after two years of training, to advance the robot's legs, bend the elbow or even lift the shoulders ...
However, not all patients will be able to benefit right away. For the moment, only Thibault was able to test this technology. Three more patients should follow, now that researchers have proven that this technology can work. The team of scientists is also working on other solutions based on this technology, in order to improve the independence of the paralyzed of everyday life. In a few years, some paralyzed patients could thus direct a wheelchair or guide a motorized arm through the installation of a sensor.