The system – which wirelessly transmits decoded brain signals to stimulate the muscles responsible for leg movement – represents the first time a neural prosthetic has restored locomotion in a primate.
 

While the brain-spinal interface has only been tested on macaques so far, the team behind the research says one day the technology could help restore the ability to walk in humans paralysed by spinal cord injuries.

"The system we have developed uses signals recorded from the motor cortex of the brain to trigger coordinated electrical stimulation of nerves in the spine that are responsible for locomotion," says engineer David Borton from Brown University.

"With the system turned on, the animals in our study had nearly normal locomotion."