| [ SNU ] in KIDS 글 쓴 이(By): zuma () 날 짜 (Date): 2001년 3월 27일 화요일 오전 09시 52분 41초 제 목(Title): Re: MIT 선정 차세대 10대 기술 > 1. 뇌-기계 인터페이스 - 생각만 하면 움직이는 컴퓨터? 몇년 전에 읽었던 기사입니다. http://www.post-gazette.com/healthscience/19981021comput1.asp (그동안 어떻게 발전 됐는지는 모르겠구요) ---------------------------- Implant lets brain move cursor for disabled Wednesday, October 21, 1998 By Lori Wiechman, The AssociatedPress ATLANTA -- A Star Trek-type implant that enables direct communication between the brain and a computer is allowing a paralyzed, mute stroke victim to use his brainpower to move a cursor across a screen and convey simple messages such as hello and goodbye. Researchers believe the tiny implant the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen is the first device that allows direct communication between the brain and a computer. "Of all things people lose, the ability to communicate is the most frightening thing -- to know what you want to say and not to be able to say it," said Dr. Warren Selman, a neurosurgeon at University Hospitals of Cleveland not involved in the research. "This is the first step to unlocking that." Doctors implanted a device into the 53-year-old man's brain that amplifies his brain signals. Those signals are then transmitted to a laptop computer through an antenna-like coil placed on his head. Like a computer mouse, the brain signals can move a cursor across the computer screen and point at icons with messages such as "See you later. Nice talking with you." The man can also use the cursor to tell others that he is hungry or thirsty. "It's like we're making the mouse the patient's brain," said Dr. Roy Bakay, one of two Emory University doctors who developed the technology. Eventually, researchers hope to use the technology to teach patients to write letters, send e-mail and turn lights off and on via computer. The patient, identified only as J.R., suffered a brain stem stroke and is dependent on a ventilator at the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center. His brain functions normally, but its signals do not reach their intended destination. Six months ago, Bakay and Dr. Phillip Kennedy implanted a tiny glass cone into the man's brain. The implant consists of two hollow glass cones, no bigger than the tip of a ballpoint pen, placed the brain's motor cortex, which controls body movements. The glass cones are laced with neurotrophic chemicals extracted from the patients' own knees. These chemicals encourage nerve growth so, over several months, neurons in the cortex grow pathways into the cones and attach themselves to tiny electrodes mounted inside. To decide where to place the implants, Bakay and his colleagues used a magnetic resonance imaging scanner to reveal the most active regions of each patient's motor cortex. Once nerves had grown into the cones, the patients were asked to think about moving various parts of their body. The responses of the electrodes in the cones were monitored and translated into commands for the computer cursor. At the moment, these commands are quite simple: up and down for one cone, and left and right for the other. But this is just the start, Bakay says. Depending on exactly which nerves grow into the cones, each patient may have to think about moving a different part of his or her body to achieve the desired cursor movement. They are trained to use the device by listening to a buzzer which becomes faster and louder when they are thinking along the right lines. Controlling the cursor soon becomes second nature, Bakay says. The implants are powered by a coil worn outside the skull in a cap. This induces a small current in a transmitter-receiver placed just inside the skull. It transmits to an amplifier in the cap, which boosts the signal and sends it to the computer. Bakay and Kennedy have been testing the technology on animals for 12 years. Kennedy has patented the technology. The first human patient, a woman suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease, was able to control computer signals for 76 days before she died. J.R. is their second patient. The National Institutes of Health have awarded funding to continue research on at least one more patient. |