08-16-2017, 10:36 PM
Brain Gate
INTRODUCTION
Brain Gate was developed by the bio-tech company Cyberkinetics in 2003 in Conjunction with the department of Neuroscience Brown University. The device was designed to help those who have lost control of their limbs or other body function. The computer chip which is implanted into the brain, monitors brain activity in the patient and convert the intension of the user into computer hand. Currently the chip used 100 hair-thin electrodes that hear neurons firing in specific area of the brain. For e.g.: the area that control the arm movement .the activity is translated into eclectically charged signals and are then set and decoded using a program thus moving the arm. According to the Cyberkinetics website, 2 patients have been implanted with the Brain Gates.
The Brain Gate System is based on Cyberkinetics" platform technology to sense, transmit,analyze and apply the language of neurons. The System consists of a sensor that is implanted on the motor cortex of the brain and a device that analyzes brain signals. The principle of operation behind the Brain Gate System is that with intact brain function, brain signals are generated even though they are not sent to the arms, hands and legs. The signals are interpreted and translated into cursor movements, offering the user an alternate "Brain Gate pathway" to control a computer with thoughts, just as individuals who have the ability to move their hands use a mouse.
This technology is based on to sense, transmit, analysis and apply the language of neurons. It consist of a sensor that is implanted on the motor cortex of the brain and a device that analyses brain signals. The signals generated by brain are interpreted and translated into cursor movement in computer screen to control the computer. The chip is a size of a Aspirin tablet of 2mm x 2mm in size. It is a 96 hair thin electrode sensor that detects brain cell electrical activity. The chip provides a fast, reliable and unobtrusive connection between the brain of a severely disabled person and personal computer.
Currently the chip uses 96 hair-thin electrode as shown in fig1, that sense the electro-magnetic signature of neurons firing in specific areas of the brain, for example, the area that controls arm movement. The activity is translated into electrically charged signals and are then send and decoded using a program, which can move a robotic arm, a computer cursor, or even a wheelchair. According to the Cyberkinetics' website, three patients have been implanted with the Brain Gate system. The company has confirmed that one patient (Matt Nagle) has a spinal cord injury, whilst another has advanced ALS.
In addition to real-time analysis of neuron patterns to relay movement, the Brain gate array is also capable of recording electrical data for later analysis. A potential use of this feature would be for a neurologist to study seizure patterns in a patient with epilepsy.
In 2009, a monkey used a device very similar to Brain Gate to control a robotic arm. This technology is associated with a brain computer interface chip.
DESCRIPTION
A MEDICAL PRODUCT
The Brain Gate Neural Interface System is currently the subject of a pilot clinical trial being conducted under an Investigational Device Exemption (LDE) from the FDA. The system is designed to restore functionality for a limited, immobile group of severely motor-impaired individuals. It is expected that people using the Brain Gate System will employ a personal computer as the gateway to a range of self-directed activities.
These activities may extend beyond typical computer functions to include the control of objects in the environment such as a telephone television and lights.
The Brain Gate System is based on Cyber kinetics' platform technology to sense, transmit, analyze and apply the language of neurons. The System consists of a sensor that is implanted on the motor cortex of the brain and a device that a brain signals. The principle of operation behind the Brain Gate System is that with intact brain function, brain signals are generated even though they are not sent to the arms, hands and legs.
The signals are interpreted and translated into cursor movements, offering the user an alternate "Brain Gate pathway" to control a computer with thought, just as individuals who have the ability to move their hands use a mouse. Cyberkinetics is further developing the Brain Gate System to potentially provide limb movement to people with severe motor disabilities. The goal of this development program would be to allow these individuals to one day use their own arms and hands again. Limb movement developments are currently at the research stage and are not available for use with the existing Brain Gate System. In addition Cyber kinetics is developing products to allow for robotic control, such as a thought-controlled wheelchair.
PLATEFORM TECHNOLOGY
Neurons are cells that use a language of electrical impulses to communicate messages from the brain to the rest of the body. At Cyber kinetics, we have the technology to sense, transmit, analyze and apply the language of neurons. We are developing products to restore function, as well as to monitor, detect, and respond to a variety of neurological diseases and disorders.
It Sense Cyber kinetics' unique technology is able to simultaneously sense the electrical activity of many individual neurons. Our sensor consists of a silicon array about the size of a baby aspirin that contains one hundred electrodes, each thinner than a human hair. The array is implanted on the surface of the brain. In the Brain Gate Neural Interface System, the array is implanted in the area of the brain responsible for limb movement. In other applications the array may be implanted in areas of the brain responsible for other body processes.
It Transmit and Analyze The human brain is a super computer with the ability to instantaneously process vast amounts of information. Cyber kinetics' technology allows for an extensive amount of electrical activity data to be transmitted from neurons in the brain to computers for analysis. In the current Brain Gate System, a bundle consisting of one hundred gold wires connects the array to a pedestal which extends through the scalp.
The pedestal is connected by an external cable to a set of computers in which the data can be stored for off-line analysis or analyzed in real-time. Signal processing software algorithms analyze the electrical activity of neurons and translate it into control signals for use in various computer-based applications. It Apply Cyberkinetics' ability to generate control signals and develop computer application interfaces provides us with a platform to develop multiple clinical products. For example, using the Brain Gate Neural Interface System, a person may be able to use his thoughts to control cursor motion and/or replicate keystrokes on a computer screen.
BRAIN GATE INTERFACE
December 7, 2004 an implantable, brain-computer interface the size of an aspirin has been clinically tested on humans by American company Cyber kinetics. The 'Brain Gate' device can provide paralysed or motor-impaired patients a mode of communication through the translation of thought into direct computer control. The technology driving this breakthrough in the Brain-Machine-Interface field has a myriad of potential applications, including the development of human augmentation for military and commercial purposes.
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have already demonstrated that a monkey can feed itself with a robotic arm simply by using signals from its brain, an advance that could enhance prosthetics for people, especially those with spinal cord injuries. Now, using the Brain Gate system in the current human trials, a 25 year old quadriplegic has successfully been able to switch on lights, adjust the volume on a TV, change channels and read e-mail using only his brain. Crucially, the patient was able to do these tasks while carrying on a conversation and moving his head at the same time About the Brain Gate device - The Brain Gate Neural Interface Device is a proprietary brain-computer interface that consists of an internal neural signal sensor and external processors that convert neural signals into an output signal under the users own control. The sensor consists of a tiny chip smaller than a baby aspirin, with one hundred electrode sensors each thinner than a hair that detect brain cell electrical activity.
BRAIN GATE
Again, the stuff of science fiction becomes a reality. A company called Cyber kinetics has created a technology that allows for the creation of direct, reliable and bi-directional interfaces between the brain, nervous system and a Their technology platform is called Brain Gate. It is the hope of this technology to translate thought into direct computer control. Cyberkinetics describes that "such applications may include novel communications interfaces for motor impaired patients, as well as the monitoring and treatment of certain diseases which manifest themselves in patterns of brain activity, such as epilepsy and depression.
The Brain Gate neural interface device is based on ten years of development at Brown University; it is intended to provide severely disabled patients with a permanent, direct and reliable interface to a personal computer. Pending continued preclinical research success and regulatory approval by the Food and Drug Administration, the Company intends to initiate a pilot clinical trial this year.
BRAIN COMPUTER INTERFACE
New research into how signals from the brain can be captured by a computer or other device to carry out an individual's command may allow people with motor disabilities to more full communicate and function in their daily lives. The technique relies on the fact that multiple sensors acting together provide the central nervous system with important feedback for controlling movement. For example, sensors called muscle spindles that are embedded in muscle fibers measure the length and speed of muscle stretch, while other sensors in the skin respond to stretch and pressure.
When an individual is paralyzed by injury or disease, neural signals from these sensors cannot reach the brain, and thus cannot be used to control motor responses. Paralysis also keeps neural signals originating in the motor regions of the brain from reaching the muscles. The work of Weber and his colleagues shows that it is possible to extract feedback information from the body's natural sensors that could then be used to control a prosthetic device, allowing an individual to regain some command and control of his or her own movements.
BRAIN TAP
Scientists Gingerly Tap Into Brain's Power by Kevin Maney - USA TODAY October 11,2004 Today's science fiction could be tomorrow's reality and a whole new world for everyone from paraplegics to fighter pilots in a Fox borough, Mass. - A 25-year-old quadriplegic sits wheelchair with wires coming out of a bott'e-cap-size ft connector stuck in his skull. The wires run from 100 tiny sensors imp'anted in his brain and out to a computer. Using just his thoughts, this former high school football player is playing the computer game Pong.
It is part of a breakthrough trial, the first of its kind, with far-reaching implications. Friday, early results were revealed at the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation annual conference. "The patient tells me this device has changed his life." says Jon Mukand, a physician caring for him at a rehabilitation facility in Warwick. R.I. The patient, who had the sensors implanted in June, has not been publicly identified. The significance of the technology, which Cyberkinetics call Brain gate, goes far beyond the initial effort to help quadriplegics. It is an early step toward learning to read signals from an array of neurons and use computers and algorithms to translate the signals into action. That could lead to artificial limbs that work like the real thing: The user could think of moving a finger, and the finger would move. At Duke University a research team has employed different methods to read and interpret neural signals directly from the human brain.Other research is underway at universities around the world. The whole process is shown in fig 2.
OBJECTIVE
"The goal of the Brain Gate program is to develop a fast, reliable and unobtrusive connection between the brain of a severely disabled person and a personal computer" stated Tim Surgenor, President and CEO of Cyberkinetics. "We hope to provide paralysed individuals with a gateway through which they can access the broad capabilities of computers, control devices in the surrounding environment, and even move their own limbs."
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have already demonstrate that a monkey can feed itself with a robotic arm simply by using signals from its brain, an advance that could enhance prosthetics for people, especially those with spinal cord injuries. Now, using the Brain Gate system in the current human trials, a 25 year old quadriplegic has successfully been able to switch on lights, adjust the volume on a TV, change channels and read e-mail using only his brain. Crucially, the patient was able to do these tasks while carrying on a conversation and moving his head at the same time.
John Donoghue, the chair of the Department of Neuroscience at Brown University, led the original research project and went on to co-found Cyberkinetics."The development of the Brain Gate program is the culmination of 10 years of research in my academic laboratory at Brown University. We have not only demonstrated in preclinical studies that Brain Gate can remain safely implanted in the monkey brain for at least two years, but we have shown that it can safely be removed as well."