Reach and grasp by people with tetraplegia using a neurally-controlled robotic arm

The authors have shown that people with long-standing tetraplegia can use a neural interface system to move and click a computer cursor and to control physical devices. One of the study participants, implanted with the sensor five years earlier, also used a robotic arm to drink coffee from a bottle. Although robotic reach and grasp actions were not as fast or accurate as those of an able-bodied person, the results demonstrate the feasibility for people with tetraplegia, years after injury to the central nervous system, to recreate useful multidimensional control of complex devices directly from a small sample of neural signals.