Video: Paralysed woman uses thought alone to operate robotic arm. Jan Scheuermann, 52, who was diagnosed with a degenerative brain disorder 13 years ago, was said to have smiled with joy after weeks of training enabled her to carry out simple tasks with a mind-controlled prosthetic arm. Ms Scheuermann explained how she first saw a film of a quadriplegic man using a similar device: "my first reaction was 'wow, it's so neat he can do that', and my second reaction was 'wow, I wish I could do something like that." The training aimed at achieving skills in nine tasks, such as gripping and moving small objects, stacking cones and bumping a ball so that it rolled outside a loose coil of wire. Assistant Professor Elizabeth Tyler- Kabara at the University of Pittsburg said Jan has been training "like an athlete" three days a week, four hours a day, for over ten months. Experts say she has been able to operate the robotic arm with a level of control and fluidity never seen before in such technology. Ms Scheuermann said that especially since her son left home to go to college, training has given her purpose in life, and that she hopes to start writing a book.