Researchers Develop “Brain-Controlled” Wheelchair Robotic Arm

Researchers at USF have created a wheelchair with a robotic arm that is operated by capturing the user's brain waves and converting them into actions, such as typing.  This is just another example of a string of recent successes that heralds the coming revolution in brain computer interfaces (BCI) that is steadily underway.

In addition to a BCI controlled robotic arm, the wheelchair also includes a 3-D joy-stick, keypad, and touch screen, demonstrating the increasing versatility and functionality that technology can deliver to the disabled.  As pointed out in our recent post about the Immaculate Prosthetic Arm, the day will eventually come when these limbs, tools, and attachments will actually exceed the abilities of normal human physiology.  At this point prosthetic arms and wheelchair attachments for the disabled would quickly move into the domain of "normal" people, used to enhance completely normal body parts and functions.

The wheelchair uses a noninvasive (non-surgical) approach to extracting the intentions of the user.  A special helmet is worn that can detect brain waves known as P300 waves.  We have adapted an explanation of how this works from wikipedia:

USF researchers claim that the robotic arm can be controlled "without the user moving a single muscle".

From the USF release: