'I think and then I walk': UCI experiment marks the first time a paraplegic walks by brain control
After a motorcycle crash paralyzed his legs, Adam Fritz never stopped thinking he would walk again. Those very thoughts, aided by new technology, activated a first-of-its-kind experiment in which Fritz’s brain waves enabled him to walk a 12-foot course inside a UC Irvine research lab. The 29-year-old insurance claims adjuster spent countless hours thinking about walking so that his brain waves could be recorded. His thoughts were then decoded by a computer algorithm, which in turn directed his first step, bypassing his damaged spinal cord to fire the muscles in his legs. “I think and then I walk. It was incredible,” Fritz said. “It gives you that hope for the future.” (The Orange County Register)