
Cortical control of a tablet computer by people with paralysis - mdturnerphys
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0204566
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georgewfraser
This is great work and the authors should be really proud.

The hard thing about BCI research is that it has to compete with operating a
joystick with your lips. Quadraplegics get incredibly good at this, to the
point that they can play RPGs:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj6tFWs1bhg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj6tFWs1bhg)

Perhaps BCIs will eventually get so good that they will be superior to these
joysticks. Then quads will be able to play first-person-shooters :)

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fdavison
The problem with BCI, eyegaze or speech control systems is how slow they are.
There can no delay in a fast paced game:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTfa0gh2WVg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTfa0gh2WVg)

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finnh
Recent New Yorker article about controlling actual robotic arms via implanted
“Utah” arrays:

[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/11/26/how-to-
control...](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/11/26/how-to-control-a-
machine-with-your-brain)

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zellyn
I thought that implanted devices worked great at first, and then slowly
stopped responding. Is this one different?

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a-dub
The signals do degrade with time. They appear to be using Utah arrays which
have been around for a while, so the old problems likely still exist. A second
problem is that the signals themselves, assuming they are good, change as
well. They're doing ~15m calibrations followed by ~40m activity sessions.

I think ultimately for these things to really work, there has to be a shift in
the HCI paradigm. Specifically, the interaction context needs to be structured
such that the behavior of the subject is highly predictable, with that being
the case it then becomes easier to continuously retrain online in the
background without the subject being aware of it.

That said, they got it to work! Always nice to see hard projects come to
fruition!

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MandieD
This is fantastic! The surgery to implant the type of intracortical device
used in this study would probably be too dangerous for my friend with advanced
muscular dystrophy to undergo - has anyone read about similar results with
external EEG? She's a nontechnical PC/tablet user, but I could take a week or
two to work with getting a device to work for her.

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Neurocynic
Can she move her eyes? Hybrid BCI (EEG + eye/EMG etc) rather than pure EEG
based BCI can be a faster and less taxing solution for her

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MandieD
Yes, she can, as well as make a “normal” range of facial gestures. She can
still speak, but her voice keeps getting weaker, and mass-market solutions
like Alexa don’t work very well for her.

Thanks for the idea!

