Invasive BCI Approaches for Restoration of Upper Extremity Movements

With neuroscientific investigations of analyzing neuronal activity of motor areas directly in the cortex in the 1980s, the foundation of invasive brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) or brain–machine interfaces (BMIs) was laid. Since then, researchers were studying motor cortex activity with multielectrode arrays, first in primates and later in humans, and applying decoders that allow multidimensional control of robotic limbs. Less invasive, but still with high signal-to-noise ratio, electrocorticography (ECoG) signals have been used for the investigation of motor cortex activity since the 2000s. After many basic investigations and decoding examples, this type of brain signal also seems to be promising for motor restoration.