Now the only question is: EXACTLY WHAT DAMAGE DIAGNOSIS will this be useful for? I lost my motor cortex and most of my pre-motor cortex so the only possibility for me would be if my contralateral side could be trained to control both hands.
Next-gen stroke rehab: Robot at home
Exoskeleton controlled by brain, developed at University of Houston, now in clinical trials
Grant and Award Announcementimage: University of Houston engineering professor Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal, an international pioneer in noninvasive brain-machine interfaces and robotic device inventions, has developed a portable robot for stroke rehabilitation. view more
Credit: University of Houston
When 66-year-old Oswald Reedus had a stroke in 2014, he became one of 795,000 people in the United States who annually suffer the same fate. This year he also became the first stroke patient in the world to use a robotic arm controlled by his brainwaves - at home - to recover the use of a limb.
Reedus was lucky to live in Houston and have access to this futuristic-looking, portable device - an invention of University of Houston engineering professor Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal, an international pioneer in noninvasive brain-machine interfaces and robotic device inventions. His team developed the portable brain-computer interface (BCI) exoskeleton to restore upper limb function.
It’s the next generation of stroke rehabilitation, and now Reedus’ name will forever be associated with it.
“If I can pass along anything to help a stroke person’s life, I will do it. For me it’s my purpose in life now,” said Reedus, whose determination sharpened after his mother and younger brother both died of strokes.
Reedus realized he had lost the use of his left arm the night he had the stroke. His wife roused him from sleep, asking him to get up because he was mumbling, and she couldn’t understand his words. He tried but couldn’t use his left arm to help him rise.
The stroke also caused Reedus to suffer aphasia, a difficulty with speech, barely noticeable now.
“I don’t know why God spared me, but I want to leave here helping someone,” he said.
Now he’s helping usher in a pivotal moment in stroke rehabilitation and medical science. Goal achieved.
Using the robot
Most neuro technologies are limited to the lab or clinic and are very expensive and hard to operate. This brain-controlled robotic arm requires no surgery and is accessible to robotically guide stroke rehabilitation both in clinic and at home. Reedus’ use of it in his Houston home follows clinical trials at TIRR Memorial Hermann.
“The broader impact and commercial potential of this project is to advance national health by accelerating development, efficacy and use of brain-controlled robotic rehabilitation after stroke by capitalizing on the benefits of non-invasive brain interfaces that extract information about the patient’s motor intent and the real-time assessment of impairment and recovery of motor function," said Contreras-Vidal, Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor of electrical and computer engineering at UH. “Brain-machine interfaces based on scalp electroencephalography (EEG) have the potential to promote cortical plasticity following stroke, which has been shown to improve motor recovery outcomes.”
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to modify, change, adapt and recover itself. Like a plastic material, which can be stretched and shaped to a desired design, there are certain properties in the brain that induce flexibility to recover even decades after a stroke or brain injury.
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