Recently, researchers helped a paralyzed person to write just by imagining that we was writing, by using a neural implant (via ArsTechnica).
Imagine Writing
In the past, brain implants could be used to help a person type words using a virtual keyboard and a cursor controlled with the mind. This new method skips that step by tracking the intention of writing.
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Two implants were inserted into the patient’s premotor cortex, and area of the brain thought to form intentions for body movement. By having the patient imagine writing words on a page, about 200 electrodes captured the brain activity associated with this movement and used a neural network to “estimate the probability of a signal corresponding to each letter.”
The patients was able to write approximately 90 characters per minute with an error rate of around 5%. The researchers say this is “not yet a complete, clinically viable system” yet and the implants had to be regularly recalibrated.
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