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Once he had recovered from the surgery, he began a training program to learn how to use it. The idea was to translate thoughts of movement into electrical signals that would trigger movement.īurkhart was the first to receive the implant, in 2014 he was 24 years old. This was connected to a sleeve of electrodes worn on the arm. It worked by recording brain activity and sending these recordings to a computer, where they were processed using an algorithm. His particular implant was a small set of 100 electrodes, carefully inserted into a part of the brain that helps control movement.

But it had to be removed seven and a half years later.

He volunteered to trial the device, which enabled him to move his hand and fingers. So if a company or research team runs out of money and wants to remove the implant, it can have devastating consequences for the recipient.īurkhart's device was implanted in his brain around nine years ago, a few years after he was left unable to move his limbs following a diving accident. They can transform a person’s health, independence, and very sense of self. And that’s how he came across a clinical trial for a brain implant that would change his life.Įxperimental brain-computer interfaces are being trialed to help treat paralysis and epilepsy, among other things. “I had a little bit of movement in my arms, but nothing in my hands.” He wanted something that could give him more independence. Ian Burkhart sustained a severe spinal cord injury while he was on vacation at 19 years old.