Could we soon control an "avatar" with our mind? (20th Century Fox)
Swiss scientists have demonstrated how a partially paralyzed person can control a robot using brain signals alone.
The team at Switzerland's Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne says the experiment takes them a step closer to enabling immobile patients to easily interact with their surroundings through a robot `avatar.'
Tuesday's demonstration involved a partially tetraplegic patient at a hospital in the southern Swiss town of Sion who imagined lifting his fingers to direct a robot at the university 100 kilometers (62 miles) away.
Similar experiments have taken place in the United States and Germany but they either involved able-bodied patients or invasive brain implants, while the Swiss team used only a simple head cap to record the brain signals.
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