'60 Minutes': Development of wireless system Video

'60 Minutes': Development of wireless system Video Transcript

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>> When you implanted the BrainGate System in Cathy --

>> Mm-hmm.

>> She had been paralyzed for a long time.

>> Nine years.

>> Did you discover that the brain was no longer working in the way that it used to?

>> Well, this has been one of the biggest surprises of many to me is that her brain was functional, and that she was able to make it work as if she were really moving.

>> So if a patient who's paralyzed thinks, "Move my left arm," the brain fires those neurons.

>> Yes.

>> Even though the arm does not move.

>> Yes. It's a very surprising -- it fires even though you're not moving.

>> What are the biggest obstacles to moving this forward? Is it the computing power, the science of the brain? What's holding you up?

>> A little bit of everything, the science, the technology, the engineering have presented barriers. But they're not significant. We're really making great strides. One of the most significant steps forward is the development of an implantable device. Currently the device has a cable connected to this plug on the head and computers on the outside. That tethers the patient. It's aesthically unpleasing. And it leaves a hole in the skin. So to get rid of all of those, we need a fully implantable system. We're working on that. And they're -- it's possible to do that now.

>> A wireless system?

>> Yes.

>> How far away would that be before a patient actually has a wireless system inside his or her head?

>> We're probably a few years away, three, five years, something like that.

>> But you've proven the technology.

>> We have a prototype, a pilot device that is -- integrates a wireless communication system that allows the signals from the brain to be transmitted to the outside. ^M00:01:42 [Clock ticking ]