( CNN ) -- Would n't moving objects with your mind be fun ? But the implications go deeper : For the millions of Americans who live with paralysis , mentally controlling artificial limbs and mobility devices would be a big step forward toward more independent living . Melody Moore Jackson , director of the BrainLab at the Georgia Institute of Technology , is trying to make that happen . Jackson started this lab in 1998 to look at methods of brain control that did n't involve surgery . At that time , she estimates , there were about five labs working on the same topic of brain-computer interfaces . Now there are about 300 . The BrainLab was one of the first to demonstrate that a person can control a robotic arm and a wheelchair with brain signals , Jackson said . `` We can literally influence the wiring of the brain , rewiring the brain , so to speak , to allow them to make new neural connections , and hopefully to restore movement to a paralyzed arm , '' Jackson said . About 6 million Americans live with paralysis , according to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation . A smaller subset in need of such technologies consists of patients with locked-in syndrome , a rare neurological disorder . These patients feel , think , and understand language , but can not move or speak -- they are `` prisoners in their own bodies , '' Jackson explained . A famous example is Jean-Dominique Bauby , who became locked-in after a stroke , and wrote the memoir `` The Diving Bell and the Butterfly '' by blinking to indicate individual letters . Jackson wants to open up possibilities for people with locked-in syndrome to communicate and move . There has been a lot of activity in brain-computer interfaces to help such people . Another pioneering research group in this area is the laboratory of Miguel Nicolelis at Duke University Center for Neuroengineering . Nicolelis and colleagues have shown that a rhesus monkey in North Carolina could , using only its brain , control the walking patterns of a robot in Japan . In 2011 , they got a monkey to move a virtual arm and feel sensations from it . This team is leading the Walk Again Project , an international consortium of research centers dedicated to creating brain-computer interfaces to restore movement . One technique that Jackson and colleagues use to harness brain signals is called functional near-infrared spectroscopy . This involves shining a light into the brain to discern how much activity is there , and examining the corresponding oxygen level . Light at a specific wavelength is beamed into the brain , and the oxygen present will absorb some of that light . This allows scientists to pick up on small differences in the blood 's oxygenation . For example , scientists can place a sensor over the Brocca 's area , a part of the brain essential for language . This area is activated when you talk to yourself inside your head or count silently , which is called subvocal speech . Scientists can use the oxygen levels associated with this to create a system of allowing a person to say `` yes '' and `` no '' just by thinking ; `` no '' corresponds to no subvocal speech or nonsense syllables . The original hardware for a device that utilizes this technique was developed by Hitachi , and it allows a person with locked-in syndrome to say `` yes '' or `` no , '' Jackson said . But Jackson wanted to make something more interesting to learn . Her group created a hot-air balloon video game , where the balloon reflects the blood oxygenation level . Multiple locked-in syndrome patients can compete with each other in this game . `` It 's not necessarily just for fun , '' Jackson said . `` We can actually say , 'Well , they got 70 % of the obstacles correct , they were able to jump over the mountains or get through the wind . ' And so it also allows us to collect data . '' In the stroke rehabilitation arena , Jackson 's group hopes to restore movement in people who have paralysis or partial paralysis in a limb . Researchers are looking at a rehabilitation robot called an exoskeleton , a device that a person sits in to be able to move limbs that they would n't otherwise . The robot can detect the brain signal corresponding to a person thinking about moving an arm , and then move the arm . `` What we 're trying to do is make new neural connections from the brain to the arm , '' Jackson said . The lab has also developed a wheelchair that a person can drive by using brain signals , rather than moving a joystick or pressing buttons . Such brain-computer interfaces require that the user wear an EEG cap to measure brain signals , but setting one up is very complicated . Jackson hopes to make it accessible for anyone to use in their own home . `` You can imagine how much faster the therapy would go if you were doing it all the time , '' she said .
Melody Moore Jackson is the director of Georgia Tech 's BrainLab . The brain has a lot to do with how we think and feel. Moving limbs and wheelchairs with the brain could help many people with limited mobility .