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Wireless Cortical Brain-Machine Interface for Whole-Body Navigation in Primates.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Rajangam, S; Tseng, P-H; Yin, A; Lehew, G; Schwarz, D; Lebedev, MA; Nicolelis, MAL
Published in: Sci Rep
March 3, 2016

Several groups have developed brain-machine-interfaces (BMIs) that allow primates to use cortical activity to control artificial limbs. Yet, it remains unknown whether cortical ensembles could represent the kinematics of whole-body navigation and be used to operate a BMI that moves a wheelchair continuously in space. Here we show that rhesus monkeys can learn to navigate a robotic wheelchair, using their cortical activity as the main control signal. Two monkeys were chronically implanted with multichannel microelectrode arrays that allowed wireless recordings from ensembles of premotor and sensorimotor cortical neurons. Initially, while monkeys remained seated in the robotic wheelchair, passive navigation was employed to train a linear decoder to extract 2D wheelchair kinematics from cortical activity. Next, monkeys employed the wireless BMI to translate their cortical activity into the robotic wheelchair's translational and rotational velocities. Over time, monkeys improved their ability to navigate the wheelchair toward the location of a grape reward. The navigation was enacted by populations of cortical neurons tuned to whole-body displacement. During practice with the apparatus, we also noticed the presence of a cortical representation of the distance to reward location. These results demonstrate that intracranial BMIs could restore whole-body mobility to severely paralyzed patients in the future.

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Published In

Sci Rep

DOI

EISSN

2045-2322

Publication Date

March 3, 2016

Volume

6

Start / End Page

22170

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Wireless Technology
  • Wheelchairs
  • Robotics
  • Paralysis
  • Motor Neurons
  • Motor Cortex
  • Microelectrodes
  • Macaca mulatta
  • Humans
  • Brain-Computer Interfaces
 

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Rajangam, S., Tseng, P.-H., Yin, A., Lehew, G., Schwarz, D., Lebedev, M. A., & Nicolelis, M. A. L. (2016). Wireless Cortical Brain-Machine Interface for Whole-Body Navigation in Primates. Sci Rep, 6, 22170. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep22170
Rajangam, Sankaranarayani, Po-He Tseng, Allen Yin, Gary Lehew, David Schwarz, Mikhail A. Lebedev, and Miguel A. L. Nicolelis. “Wireless Cortical Brain-Machine Interface for Whole-Body Navigation in Primates.Sci Rep 6 (March 3, 2016): 22170. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep22170.
Rajangam S, Tseng P-H, Yin A, Lehew G, Schwarz D, Lebedev MA, et al. Wireless Cortical Brain-Machine Interface for Whole-Body Navigation in Primates. Sci Rep. 2016 Mar 3;6:22170.
Rajangam, Sankaranarayani, et al. “Wireless Cortical Brain-Machine Interface for Whole-Body Navigation in Primates.Sci Rep, vol. 6, Mar. 2016, p. 22170. Pubmed, doi:10.1038/srep22170.
Rajangam S, Tseng P-H, Yin A, Lehew G, Schwarz D, Lebedev MA, Nicolelis MAL. Wireless Cortical Brain-Machine Interface for Whole-Body Navigation in Primates. Sci Rep. 2016 Mar 3;6:22170.

Published In

Sci Rep

DOI

EISSN

2045-2322

Publication Date

March 3, 2016

Volume

6

Start / End Page

22170

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Wireless Technology
  • Wheelchairs
  • Robotics
  • Paralysis
  • Motor Neurons
  • Motor Cortex
  • Microelectrodes
  • Macaca mulatta
  • Humans
  • Brain-Computer Interfaces