Training on new technology being developed by Prof Coyle’s company, NeuroCONCISE, at the University of Bath in Bath, England, June 24, 2024. Every four years at the Cybathlon, teams of researchers and technology “pilots” compete to see whose brain-computer interface holds the most promise. — Photos: Francesca Jones/The New York Times
Owen Collumb was paralysed in 1993, when he was 21 years old. A tyre on his motorbike blew out and he fell into a ravine, breaking a single bone in his spine. When he recovered, he couldn’t move his legs and could control only the biceps in his arms, meaning that he could lift his hands but, to put them down, he had to twist his shoulders and let gravity unbend his elbows.
He spent years in an assisted living home before petitioning to move to his own place in Dublin, with the help of home aides. Living alone was liberating; he could choose what he ate and when he woke in the morning.
