Mind-controlled suit gets ready to kick off the World Cup: Paralysed teenager makes final preparations to use the exoskeleton during the opening ceremony

Motorised metal braces will be used to support and bend teenager’s legs

Suit will be controlled by patterns of brain activity detected by electrodes



The signals will be sent to a computer converting them into movements

Unnamed teenager will then be able to kick a ball on pitch in Sao Paulo



This is the first time an exoskeleton has been controlled by brain activity and offered feedback to the patient

At the World Cup opening ceremony on Thursday, a paraplegic will leave behind their wheelchair to take to the pitch in this robotic suit

The most impressive kick of the World Cup won't come from a known football star.



Instead, it will be from a paraplegic teenager who will use a robotic bodysuit to kick a ball using his or her mind.



For the past few months, Brazilian doctor Miguel Nicolelis has been putting the final touches to the futuristic exoskeleton, which was designed to enable paralysis victims to walk.

At the World Cup opening ceremony on Thursday in Sao Paulo, a paraplegic - whose identity has been kept secret - will leave behind their wheelchair to take to the pitch in the suit.

The exoskeleton, which has been designed as part of the international 'Walk Again Project', will use motorised metal braces to support and bend the teenager’s legs.

The suit itself will be controlled by patterns of brain activity detected by electrodes placed either on the scalp or in the brain itself.



These signals will be sent wirelessly to a computer worn by the wearer, converting them into movements.

The team have incorporated sensors into the exoskeleton that feed information about touch, temperature and force back to the wearer. The feedback is expected to come through a visual display or a vibrating motor.

‘It's the first time an exoskeleton has been controlled by brain activity and offered feedback to the patients,’ Dr Nicolelis, a neuroscientist at Duke University, told AFP.

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The exoskeleton, which has been designed as part of the international 'Walk Again Project', will use motorised metal braces to support and bend the teenager's legs. Brazilian scientist Miguel Nicolelis is pictured on the right at his lab in Sao Paulo, Brazil The suit itself will be controlled by patterns of brain activity detected by electrodes placed either on the scalp or in the brain itself. These signals will be sent wirelessly to a computer worn by the wearer, converting them into movements

HOW THE EXOSKELETON WORKS

The exoskeleton, which has been designed as part of the international 'Walk Again Project', will use motorised metal braces to support and bend the teenager’s legs. The suit itself will be controlled by patterns of brain activity detected by electrodes placed either on the scalp or in the brain itself.

These signals will be sent wirelessly to a computer worn by the wearer, converting them into movements. The team plans to incorporate sensors into the exoskeleton that feed information about touch, temperature and force back to the wearer. The feedback is expected to come through a visual display or a vibrating motor.

The teenager had undergone training in a virtual reality simulator to translate thoughts into signals to the robotic armour.

‘Doing a demonstration in a stadium is something very much outside our routine in robotics. It's never been done before.’



Dr Nicolelis said his team have barely left the lab since March, when they arrived in Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city and economic hub, to make the final preparations.

But it's been rewarding, too, he said, recalling the moment on 24 April when a paralysed user first took steps in the exoskeleton.

Dr Nicolelis’ voice contains a mix of exhaustion and excitement, the result of 30 years' work, more than 200 scientific papers and countless clinical tests that are nearing a spectacular summit.

The scientist started down this path in 1984 when he wrote his doctoral thesis on neural connections in muscular control.

He said the idea for the suit came to him in 2002, when scientists were just beginning to explore robotic exoskeletons.



The team have named the device the Bra-Santos Dumont, a combination of the three-letter sporting code for Brazil and Alberto Santos-Dumont, a Brazilian inventor who once demonstrated controllable flight was possible by flying his dirigible around the Eiffel Tower.

VIDEO: Miguel Nicolelis at TEDMED 2012



Scientists from around the world are working to enable a young Brazilian paraplegic to kick off the opening game of the FIFA World Cup 2014. The teenager will wear an exoskeleton, artists' illustration pictured, that will be controlled by patterns of brain activity detected

Some scientists have criticised Dr Nicolelis for ditching academic publications in favour of mass media - he posts research updates on Facebook - and the anonymity of the lab for the lights of the World Cup stage.

Critics have also questioned the practicality of his research and accused him of hogging an unfair share of the Brazilian government's research budget. Dr Nicolelis rejects that criticism.

‘The funding is the same with or without the World Cup,’ he said.

‘We've received $14 million (£8.4 million) from the Brazilian government over the last two years.

‘That's approximately four or five times less than what the United States government invests in a mechanical arm.’

‘I don't see anything wrong with demonstrating a technology for the whole world that has a humanitarian objective and was paid for by civil society,’ he added.

More than 65,000 people will be in Sao Paulo's Corinthians Arena to watch the BRA-Santos Dumont's first steps in public before Brazil play Croatia in the opening match. Around a billion are expected to watch on TV.