Thought-controlled robot unveiled

A partially paralysed person has controlled a robot using brain signals alone for the first time.

Scientists at Switzerland's Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne said the experiment takes them a step closer to enabling immobile patients to easily interact with their surroundings through a robot 'avatar.'

The demonstration involved a patient at a hospital in the town of Sion who imagined lifting his fingers to direct a robot at the university 60 miles away.

Similar experiments have taken place in the United States and Germany but they either involved able-bodied patients or invasive brain implants, while the Swiss team used only a simple head cap to record the brain signals.