3.5 The First Human Applications

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Professor Nicolelis’s proposed that BMI can have clinical applications. They looked at how spinal cord injuries prevent motor signals from reaching the spinal cord and generating movements, and created a BMI to send signals to exoskeletons.
One of Nicolelis’ paraplegic patients kicked off the World Cup in Brazil in 2014.
Patients in Professor Nicolelis’ research began by using virtual reality to retrain their brains.
Patients were able to walk with the assistance of exoskeletons and reported feeling the sensation of walking.
Seven of the eight patients’ conditions improved to partial paraplegia and the researchers able to detect muscle activity in new areas.