You know what they say: so easy a monkey can do it…

Via a wireless brain interface, two rhesus monkeys have successfully controlled a robotic wheelchair with their thoughts—suggesting that similar technology could be utilized to help paralyzed individuals navigate robotic devices with their minds.

Using brain-machine-interfaces (BMIs) is nothing new; however, this is the first instance in which a cortical implant has facilitated whole-body movement, rather than just independent control of artificial limbs. As part of the experiment, researchers implanted two monkeys, each one seated in a robotic wheelchair, with multichannel microelectrode arrays, allowing wireless recordings from ensembles of premotor and sensorimotor cortical neurons.

In sets of “passive navigation trials,” the monkeys were then trained to head toward a food reward (a bowl of grapes), using preprogrammed routes. Researchers recorded the monkeys’ brain activity, later using a computer to translate the incoming brain signals into digital motor commands that controlled the wheelchairs’ movement.

Eventually, the monkeys were able to navigate their wheelchairs toward the grapes on their own, and analysis of their brain signals demonstrated that they were actually “thinking” about heading toward the target.

The researchers’ success suggests that BMIs can be used to restore complex movements, such as bipedal locomotion, in paralysis victims.

“This makes us very confident that this new kind of technology can be used in humans very soon,” Duke Health’s Miguel Nicolelis told Gizmodo.

Making things even more promising, the implants used in the trials were made of a flexible, hair-like microfilament that adheres to brain tissue safely. Perhaps more importantly, the filament is also built to last. For people in need of permanent implants to facilitate complex, whole-body movements, the technology holds immense promise.

The study was part of the Walk Again Project, Nicolelis’ not-for-profit brainchild (heh).