It sounds like science fiction, but the system could boost collaborative rehabilitation, where groups of people with brain or spinal cord injuries work together. By showing rather than telling Denapoli how to move her hand, she’s nearly doubled her hand strength since starting the trial.

“Crucially, this approach not only restores aspects of sensorimotor function,” wrote the team. It “also fosters interpersonal connection, allowing individuals with paralysis to re-experience agency, touch, and collaborative action through another person.”

We move without a second thought: pouring a hot cup of coffee while half awake, grabbing a basketball versus a tennis ball, or balancing a cup of ice cream instead of a delicate snow cone.