
Lausanne, Switzerland – May 27, 2016: A test person at a neuroscience lab of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, is wearing a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) hood that is translating brain activity into signals that control a computer. BCI technology aims to allow people with limited mobility to increase their independence or to enable completely paralyzed patients to communicate with their environment. At this specific lab session, the test person, who is paraplegic and sitting in a wheelchair, is training to pilot an avatar through a computer game just with his thoughts. The game is one of the disciplines at “Cybathlon”, a championship for racing pilots with disabilities which will take place in October 2016 in Kloten, Switzerland. The team of EPFL neuroscientists is positive about winning “Cybathlon’s” BCI race: at the end of the training session, a new personal high-score was set.