Researchers at Milan’s Polytechnical Institute have created a wheelchair that obeys the mental signals of the person sitting in the chair and sends them to a computer, Agence France-Presse reported.
The wheelchair’s user is connected to the computer by electrodes attached to his head, and after the user concentrates on where he would like to go, the destination appears on the screen. Using a preset program, the computer would guide the wheelchair to the selected location.
“We don’t read minds, but the brain signal that is sent,” Professor Matteo Matteucci told the AFP.
A commercial prototype aimed for quadriplegics would likely be available in about five to 10 years, Matteucci said.
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