Control your wheelchair by thought

A young woman, sitting in a wheelchair, thinks about pulling another wheelchair to the left, then pushing it forward. As a miracle, the car moves in the right order in her brain.

For those who are paralyzed, BrainGate can help them reduce their dependency on others. (Photo: Tankchair.com)

That video was used to describe a technology called BrainGate at a conference in early November in Cleveland, Ohio.

" She manipulated the car with imagination, " said Timothy Surgenor, president and CEO of Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, in a statement to nearly 900 scientists and businesspeople.

The woman in the wheelchair is equipped with a small sensor. This device analyzes signals from the control area of the hands in her brain.

A small plug at the top of her ear connects the sensor to a computer. The computer communicates with the electronic wheelchair in front of her via a wireless connection.

" What we're doing is just the tip of the iceberg ," says Dr. Ali Rezai, director of the Center for Neurosurgery at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

For paralyzed people, this technology can be a magic wand to help them change their lives. Surgenor claims BrainGate can be applied to life before the end of the decade.

"BrainGate support technologies were born , " he said. "Cyberkinetics provides the operating system, which is aimed at making devices that support wireless connectivity and are small enough."

Viet Linh