BrainGate
Veterans Administration, Et al.
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June 04, 2026
VA has played a major role in supporting the development of BrainGate. The system, spearheaded by researchers at the Providence VA Medical Center in Rhode Island and Brown University, relies on microelectrodes implanted in the brain to pick up neural signals.
The electrodes are placed in a part of the brain that controls voluntary movement. They send signals to an external decoder that translates them into commands for electronic or robotic devices, such as an iPad or robotic arm.
The research team developing BrainGate hopes to create a technology that will restore movement, control, and independence to people with paralysis or limb loss from conditions including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), stroke, and spinal cord injury.
BrainGate studies—In 2011, a research team consisting of VA, Brown University, Harvard University, and Massachusetts General Hospital researchers successfully implanted electrodes in the brains of volunteers with paralysis affecting their arms and legs. The system allowed them to control robot arms with their thoughts, and they could continue to control a computer cursor accurately more than 1,000 days after the electrodes were initially implanted.
In 2015, the BrainGate team reported the system could allow point-and-click communication by someone with incomplete locked-in syndrome, which can be caused by a spinal cord injury. In locked-in syndrome, patients are fully conscious but unable to move any muscles except for those that control eye movement. They can see, hear, smell, taste, and even feel, but may be unable to speak or vocalize at all. Those with incomplete locked-in syndrome can make small movements of the head, fingers, and toes.
Another 2015 BrainGate study found that volunteers using the system were able to acquire "targets" on a computer screen, such as letters on a keyboard, more than twice as quickly as in previous studies, thanks to advances in the system.
The BrainGate team is now studying whether the system can be effective as a means of natural, intuitive control of prosthetic limbs, or as a way to help patients move their own paralyzed limbs. The latter work is being carried out in partnership with the Cleveland FES Center.
A 2017 proof-of-concept study demonstrated that this combination of FES and BrainGate was successful in a quadriplegic Navy Veteran, who used electrodes implanted in his brain and in the muscles of his paralyzed arm and hand to use his own thoughts to control his arm and hand. This video shows how the system works, and how it offers potential help to people with paralysis in the future. The BrainGate team is currently working on the next generation of their system that will be fully implanted and wireless so it can be used at home without the assistance of a technician.
For full citations and article visit: https://www.research.va.gov/topics/prosthetics.cfm#research5
The electrodes are placed in a part of the brain that controls voluntary movement. They send signals to an external decoder that translates them into commands for electronic or robotic devices, such as an iPad or robotic arm.
The research team developing BrainGate hopes to create a technology that will restore movement, control, and independence to people with paralysis or limb loss from conditions including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), stroke, and spinal cord injury.
BrainGate studies—In 2011, a research team consisting of VA, Brown University, Harvard University, and Massachusetts General Hospital researchers successfully implanted electrodes in the brains of volunteers with paralysis affecting their arms and legs. The system allowed them to control robot arms with their thoughts, and they could continue to control a computer cursor accurately more than 1,000 days after the electrodes were initially implanted.
In 2015, the BrainGate team reported the system could allow point-and-click communication by someone with incomplete locked-in syndrome, which can be caused by a spinal cord injury. In locked-in syndrome, patients are fully conscious but unable to move any muscles except for those that control eye movement. They can see, hear, smell, taste, and even feel, but may be unable to speak or vocalize at all. Those with incomplete locked-in syndrome can make small movements of the head, fingers, and toes.
Another 2015 BrainGate study found that volunteers using the system were able to acquire "targets" on a computer screen, such as letters on a keyboard, more than twice as quickly as in previous studies, thanks to advances in the system.
The BrainGate team is now studying whether the system can be effective as a means of natural, intuitive control of prosthetic limbs, or as a way to help patients move their own paralyzed limbs. The latter work is being carried out in partnership with the Cleveland FES Center.
A 2017 proof-of-concept study demonstrated that this combination of FES and BrainGate was successful in a quadriplegic Navy Veteran, who used electrodes implanted in his brain and in the muscles of his paralyzed arm and hand to use his own thoughts to control his arm and hand. This video shows how the system works, and how it offers potential help to people with paralysis in the future. The BrainGate team is currently working on the next generation of their system that will be fully implanted and wireless so it can be used at home without the assistance of a technician.
For full citations and article visit: https://www.research.va.gov/topics/prosthetics.cfm#research5