Mind controlled wheelchair for quadriplegics and people with severe disabilities

Wheelchair mind control For Quads (And Lazy Para’s)

Tue, Mar 18, 2008 -

Sure, we have all dreamt of a wheelchair auto-pilot to help us get back from the bar after one too many, but a new development in Europe is making our pipe-dreams closer to reality than ever before.

The MAIA BCI not only converts signals emitted by the brain into actions — such moving a wheelchair forward — it also thinks for itself when needed in order to assist the user in getting where he / she wants to go. Essentially, the individual need only think about going left or forward (for example), and the machine itself will automatically detect obstacles and potential barriers in order to move more efficiently. As it stands, there’s still quite a bit of testing to be done before MAIA-based wheelchairs would be available to the public, but researchers are already hoping to integrate said technology into artificial limbs and the like.

How awesome is that, mind control!

For high level complete quads this is obviously great news, and I would like to be the first to welcome our new quadriplegic overlords.

A similar system using thought control, but without the auto-pilot like navigation is being developed by Ambient. The Audeo program using existing technology to control a powerchair by thoughts.

2 Comments For This Post

PneussonHoory Says:
August 9th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
It’s amazing
Mollie Tyson Says:
November 12th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
geb5clr4×8snoyoy

Robotic Wheelchair Docks With Your Vehicle Like A Space station, Kills Silently. | pushingthelimits.com Says:
May 6th, 2008 at 10:38 am
[...] thought we were doomed when we found out about those thought controlled wheelchairs, but this is a whole new level of craziness. Autonomous wheelchairs armed with space lasers, [...]