The research work on the `BrainGate' brain-computer interface has finally yielded the desired results, with the researchers having successfully demonstrated the ability of a brain-controlled prosthetic arm to `reach out' for things and `grasp' them.

In the first-of-its-kind demonstration underscoring a significant breakthrough for `BrainGate' - in terms of successfully programming computers to interpret the brain signals as arm and hand motion -, the researchers said in a Wednesday report that a paralyzed Massachusetts woman had moved a robotic arm with her thoughts, for picking up a bottle of coffee and sipped from it.

Since it was the for first time in 15 years that the 58-year-old woman - who was paralyzed after she suffered a stroke - was able to pick up something of her own volition, the demonstration substantiated the researchers' claims that robotic arms can be controlled by brain waves.

With a few other paralyzed patients having, in recent years, having high-fived with a different robotic arm, as well as moved a cursor around a computer screen merely by focusing their thoughts on it, the researchers - including brain scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and computer scientists at Brown University, Harvard Medical School and other institutes - said that the BrainGate robotic arm was a huge scientific advancement.

Even though the wide availability of the demonstrated devices will still take some years, Andrew Schwartz - who is developing another thought-controlled robotic arm at the University of Pittsburgh - said: "Things in this field are exploding right now."