A paralysed man has been able to walk again thanks to the power of his mind and a robotic suit.
The Frenchman, named only as Thibault, said he felt like “the first man on the moon” after taking his first steps in two years.
The 30-year-old tetraplegic used an exoskeleton controlled by his brain waves to move all four of his paralysed limbs.
The optician from Lyon was left paralysed after falling 15m from a nightclub roof in 2015.
The whole-body exoskeleton, which is part of a two-year trial by Clinatec and the University of Grenoble, is operated by recording and decoding brain signals.
As part of the trial, Thibault had two sensors implanted in his head, between his brain and skin, which transmitted brain activity as instructions to a computer in a backpack.
The computer then decoded the brainwaves and sent them as signals to the motorised framework around his limbs, instructing them to move.
After using the exoskeleton for the first time he said: "It was like being the first man on the Moon. I didn't walk for two years. I forgot what it is to stand, I forgot I was taller than a lot of people in the room.”
While he found walking “easy”, he said arm movement was more challenging. But he hopes he will soon be able to use a robotic arm at home to allow him to eat by himself.
Writing in the journal The Lancet Neurology, researchers from the University of Grenoble said the kit was less invasive and offered a greater range of movement than other systems.
However, it is still early days and the system is currently only suitable for use in the lab.
Thibault, who used video games to practise channelling his thoughts, was only able to balance because the exoskeleton was attached to the ceiling by a harness.
A second patient was forced to dropout of the research after the implants stopped working but three more patients are now taking part in the trial.
Professor Tom Shakespeare, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the exoskeleton was a long way from being a usable clinical possibility.
"A danger of hype always exists in this field,” he said.
"Even if ever workable, cost constraints mean that hi-tech options are never going to be available to most people in the world with spinal cord injury.”
Nevertheless, the system still offers hope to the thousands or people left paralysed every year by falls and other accidents.
Neurosurgeon Professor Stephan Chabardes, who led the research, said: “Our findings could move us a step closer to helping tetraplegic patients to drive computers using brain signals alone, perhaps starting with driving wheelchairs using brain activity instead of joysticks.”
