Ken Valyear, Lecturer in cognitive neuroscience at Bangor University, writes in the Conversation that “Erik Sorto, 34, has been paralysed from the neck down for the past 13 years. However, thanks to a ground-breaking clinical trial [conducted by scientists at Caltech and USC], he has been able to smoothly drink a bottle of beer using a robotic arm controlled with his mind. He is the first patient to have had a neural prosthetic device implanted in a region of the brain thought to control intentions.” On Tuesday’s AU Ken Valyear will join us from Wales to discuss the latest in robotics and neuroscience.
Later in the program we’ll talk with SachinPavithran, Program Director of the Utah Assistive Technology Program (UATP) and the Disability Policy Analyst for the Center for Persons with Disabilities; and Jay Jayaseelan, Founder & CEO of Learning Through Robotics, a Utah company which helps kids learn STEM through robotics.
