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A paralysed man controlled his virtual avatar by his brain |
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New Technology
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Written by Team Josh
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Tuesday, 03 June 2008 |
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 It is marked as a signficant achievement. The 41-year-old patient used his imagination to make his character take a walk and chat to another virtual person on the popular Second Life website.
It proved that a paralysed man using only his brain waves has been able to manipulate a virtual Internet character, Japanese researchers said Monday, calling it a world first.
In the experiment, a paralysed man wore headgear with three electrodes monitoring brain waves related to his hands and legs. Even though he cannot move his legs, he imagined that his character was walking.
He was then able to have a conversation with the other character using an attached microphone, said the researchers at Japan's Keio University.
Researchers are now studying a system that would let patients create text messages by mentally selecting certain letters, said Junichi Ushiba, associate professor at the biosciences and informatics department of Keio Universty's Faculty of Science and Technology.
"In the near future, they would be able to stroll through Second Life shopping malls with their brain waves... and click to make a purchase," Ushiba said.
[source: Yahoo Tech News]
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