Thanks to the exoskeleton of the image, the next goal in making history could be known as “the foot of God”, since, for the most devoted, bionic engineering, which seeks to integrate man and machine, plays at being God. It is a prosthesis controlled by brain activity that will allow a young paraplegic with no mobility in his lower extremities, to walk across the soccer field and kick the ball to open the Soccer World Cup next June.
“Walk again” is the name of the ambitious project led by Miguel Nicolelis, one of the 20 most prestigious scientists in the world according to Scientific American magazine, and started in 2008, when the researcher managed to make a bipedal robot walk by transmitting brain signals of a monkey on the Internet. On this occasion, Nicolelis intended to implant electrodes in the brain of the disabled person to manipulate the robot, but finally opted for electroencephalography, a more imprecise but also more accessible technology. The exoskeleton is connected to a system of brain electrodes located on the head, capable of capturing the electrical signals of the neurons and transforming them into electrical impulses that trigger the desired movement , which in this case will be to get up, walk and hit the ball to do the so-called “honor roll.”
One of the eight disabled people who have tested the exoskeleton through virtual reality will be chosen to carry out this feat of neuroengineering. Nicolelis is convinced that robotics and prosthetics will soon break down the barriers faced by amputee patients , with spinal cord damage or any other motor or sensory deficit. “It will be like putting a man on the moon, conquering a level of daring and innovation that people are not used to associating with Brazil,” in the scientist’s words.
The scientific community is, however, skeptical of the project’s claims, since the rest of the investigations also based on electroencephalography have only managed to start and stop the prostheses, and that they follow a preprogrammed path, which is quite far of the advertised mind control concept. If so, the most critical voices argue that, given the context in which it is presented, it is not so much a scientific milestone as a promotional strategy for the country’s research. In any case, and regardless of its technical relevance, it is a promising initiative to reconcile scientists and fans in front of the television.
