For the first time since an injury that left him a tetraplegic, a 28-year-old man named Thibault from Lyon, France was able to walk on his own using an exoskeleton that he controlled with only his mind.
If this sounds like something out of science fiction, it’s because a team of researchers has pushed the envelope to make science fiction a step closer to reality.
A 40-foot fall from a balcony had severed Thibault’s spinal cord and left him paralyzed from the shoulders down. He retained some movement in his biceps and left wrist, allowing him to operate an electric wheelchair via a joystick he controlled with his left arm.
Watch this man walk again the video below.
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Video credit: Rumble
Over the course of two years, Thibault worked with researchers from biomedical research center Clinatec, the University of Grenoble in France, and the CEA research center to test out algorithms that allowed him to operate devices using signals emitted from his brain.
They implanted recording devices on both sides of his head and between the brain and skin to map the sensorimotor cortex or the part of the brain that governs motor function and sensation.
The algorithm then interpreted these signals into specific commands that moved a robotic exoskeleton. Thibault first started by controlling an avatar within a video game and progressed to the exoskeleton once he mastered the basics of moving.
All in all, Thibault managed to take a total of 480 steps covering 145 meters (about 476 feet) using both the avatar and the exoskeleton. The study was published in The Lancet Neurology journal.
While the technology is still experimental, scientists are optimistic that it will soon improve the lives of patients.
“I can’t go home tomorrow in my exoskeleton, but I’ve got to a point where I can walk. I walk when I want and I stop when I want,” Thibault told AFP.
In a press release, Professor Stephan Chabardes, a neurosurgeon from Grenoble University Hospital and author of the study, said, “Our findings could move us a step closer to helping tetraplegic patients to drive computers using brain signals alone, perhaps starting with driving wheelchairs using brain activity instead of joysticks and progressing to developing an exoskeleton for increased mobility.
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