This real-life cyborg controls his arm via brain implant

The rise of the cyborgs is close at hand.
 

Thanks to a new technology that "bypasses" the spinal cord, people who become paralyzed by spinal cord injuries could soon regain control of their body parts using just their thoughts.

 

Ian Burkhart, 23, who was paralyzed in a 2010 diving accident, managed to make a fist by just concentrating, with help from the new technology dubbed Neurobridge.

 

Neurobridge was described as an "electronic neural bypass for spinal cord injuries that reconnects the brain directly to muscles, allowing voluntary and functional control of a paralyzed limb."

 

Burkhart is the first of a potential five participants in a clinical study, the OSU said.

 

 

According to Battelle research leader Chad Bouton, the procedure is "much like a heart bypass, but instead of bypassing blood, we’re actually bypassing electrical signals.”

 

“We’re taking those signals from the brain, going around the injury, and actually going directly to the muscles,” he added.

 

During a three-hour surgery on April 22, OSU doctors helped fit Burkhart's brain with a microchip sensor developed by the Battelle team.

 

"I never dreamed I would ever be able to do that again," Burkhart said, according to a YouTube video of the Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center.

 

Chip and sleeve

 

Neurosurgeon Dr. Ali Rezai of Ohio State said the microchip will "essentially read his thoughts and send signals to a wearable high-tech sleeve placed on his forearm to control his muscle movements."

 

Special software interprets the brain signals and helps serve as a bypass for the spinal cord.

 

"Once Ian thinks about moving his hand, his thoughts are processed and sent through wires connected to the sleeve and Ian's muscles, which allows him to once again move his hand and fingers," said Chad Bouton, who developed the sleeve.

 

Helping others

 

Burkhart sees his six-month clinical trial at Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center as a chance to help others with spinal cord injuries.

 

“I’ve realized, ‘You know what? This is the way it is. You’re going to have to make the best out of it.’ You can sit and complain about it, but that’s not going to help you at all. So, you might as well work hard, do what you can and keep going on with life,” he said.

 

He is also hopeful for his future.

 

“It’s definitely great for me to be as young as I am when I was injured because the advancements in science and technology are growing rapidly and they’re only going to continue to increase,” he said. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News