NBC

Brain Chips Help Paralyzed Man Fist-Bump President Obama

A man who's been paralyzed for more than a decade got to show off how much progress he's made by fist-bumping President Barack Obama Thursday with a robotic hand, NBC News reported. 

Nathan Copeland can feel his fingers for the first time since a 2004 car crash left him paralyzed from the chest down, thanks to chips implanted in his brain that also control the hand.

When he met Obama at a science event organized by the White House in Pittsburgh, the president told Copeland, "Let's see what you got." Then the robotic hand moved with input from Copeland's brain.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is behind the brain interface, which is letting Copeland once again "feel just about every finger."

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