This is just incredible:

Using the system, called BrainGate, [quadriplegic Matt Nagle, age 25,] can read e-mail, play video games, turn lights on or off and change channels or adjust the volume of a television set. In early test sessions, the patient was able to control the TV and carry on a conversation and move his head at the same time.

“I think the results are spectacular, almost unbelievable,” said surgeon Gerhard Friehs, an associate professor of clinical neurosciences at Brown Medical School and the director of functional neurosurgery at Rhode Island Hospital, who implanted the first BrainGate device in June.
…
Donoghue hopes one day that BrainGate can help paralyzed people move by controlling their own electric wheelchairs, communicate by using e-mail and Internet-based phone systems, and be independent by controlling items such as televisions and thermostats.

“Our ultimate goal is to develop the BrainGate System so that it can be linked to many useful devices,” Donoghue said. “This includes medical devices such as muscle stimulators, to give the physically disabled a significant improvement in their ability to interact with the world.”
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What a leap forward. I had no idea we were this close to that kind of functionality. Imagine how robotics coupled with this invention could enhance the lives of countless disabled people.