Brain Chip Helps Quadriplegics Move Robotic Arms with Their Thoughts - Technology Review

Brain Chip Helps Quadriplegics Move Robotic Arms with Their Thoughts - Technology Review: The brain implant is a small array that's four millimeters on each side ("about the size of a baby aspirin," says Donoghue) with 96 hairlike electrodes extending from one side. The device sits on the surface of the brain, and the electrodes penetrate the arm-controlling region of the motor cortex by one millimeter. The implant records the impulses of dozens of neurons. A patient's intent to move generates these impulses, which are then transmitted to a computer that translates the patterns of electrical activity into commands that can control a robotic arm.