A pair of patients wearing a BCI was able to control a bionic arm and feel tactile edges, shapes, and curvatures along its fingers. For the study, the participants had BCIs implanted in the sensor and motor region of their brains responsible for hand and arm movement. The researchers were able to record and then decode all the patterns of electrical activity associated with the patient’s hand movement.
The patients were then asked to engage in a series of complex experiments controlling a nearby bionic arm to see if they could distinguish minute subtle changes occurring across its surface. They reported feelings and sensations like edges, curves, and directions moving across the hand. Researchers had to encode signals that would be associated with touch sensations and then send that to the patient’s brain.
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