Monkeys use brain power to ‘feel’ objects

Two rhesus monkeys learned to operate a virtual arm with their brain alone and were able to differentiate between the textures of virtual objects.

It is hoped this could pave the way for the development of a “robotic exoskeleton” to be worn by severely paralysed people, helping them move and experience the world around them using brainwaves, the senior author of the American study said.

Miguel Nicolelis, co-director of the Duke University Centre for Neuroengineering in Durham, North Carolina, said: “Someday in the near future, quadriplegic patients will take advantage of this technology not only to move their arms and hands and to walk again, but also to sense the texture of objects placed in their hands, or experience the nuances of the terrain on which they stroll with the help of a wearable robotic exoskeleton.”

The Walk Again Project, led by the Duke Centre for Neuroengineering, wants to carry out a public demonstration of a robotic exoskeleton, which could allow quadriplegic people to move again, at the opening game of the 2014 Football World Cup.