Brain-reading system for patients developed

Kathmandu, June 20

Two youths have successfully developed a brain-reading system for paralysed people. High school graduates Ankit Shah and Yugesh Pandey developed the new system — Beta Assistive Toolkit — that helps patients communicate by detecting their brain waves.

Nepal Health Research Council allowed the use of this technology on paralysed patients following its Ethical Review Board meeting.

According to Shah, the system gives information when a patient thinks of something.

“First of all, we tried it on patients with the help of Nepal Academy of Science and Technology.

A patient expressed his interest to talk to a doctor, while another wanted to answer the nature’s call,” Shah said.

He said the system displays various items like fruits, music, movie, toilet, doctor, friend, kitchen, water, juice, among others, through slides and observes how the patient’s brain responds.

“If a patient thinks of anything while the items are being displayed, a light flashes and sends signals, which are received through the mobile app,” Shah said, adding, this is the first time the technology has been introduced in Nepal.

Previously the research was supervised by Dr Basant Pant, chairman of Annapurna Neurological Institute and Allied Sciences, who helped make the technology accessible to paralysed patients.