Imagine that you are a neuroscientist who is working on a system to overcome a spinal cord injury. Create a new brain-computer interface system. The goal of this system is to operate either mechanical hands or legs like the ones shown in the video. How would you design this system?
Begin with a brief overview of what brain-computer interfaces are and their purpose for treating serious nervous system injuries.
The first part of the system will need to collect information from the skin and limb position. How would the sensory side of your proposed system work? Sensory inputs will be important so people can “feel” their robotic legs or arms.
The second part of the new system will be processing information. What occurs in the brain, like making decisions about movement and using sensory information? Try to use the brain parts described in the assigned reading for this week.
The third part of the proposed system is outputs. What kind of technology will you use to detect brain activity? How does it communicate to the robotic limbs? What will the person do or think to control their robotic limb? Again, incorporate the technologies described in this reading and the ones from previous weeks into your answer.
Finish your essay with a conclusion about how successful you think this technology will be for treating paralyzed people. What is the potential or future for this technology? You might also address how much this will cost to treat patients.
