FIFA World Cup 2014 has finally kicked off. A paralyzed man used a mind-controlled robotic suit to kick the football and announce the beginning of the event.
This feat is phenomenal because it goes on to show the advancement in the robotic aids for paralyzed persons. Most of the robotic aids and accessories used by handicapped people typically require some sort of physical activity. The beauty of a mind-controlled robot is that it is able read the impulse from the brain and perform a corresponding task. The person wielding it doesn’t require to move a finger.
Juliano Pinto is the man who had the honor of officially kickstarting the World Cup 2014. Pinto is paralyzed from the waist down and a group of researchers had been working on his robotic suit which has made many pre-event headlines. To read the brain waves, Pinto wore an EEG headset which fed the data to the robotic suit.
It was with the help of this aid that Pinto was able to physically kick off the football in the sight of an audience of millions worldwide. The interesting part is that the robotic suit wasn’t finalized until the very last moment and no one was sure if it was going to work. However, when the moment came, Pinto was successful in mustering a slight kick.
Courtesy: The Verge
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