Brain-Powered Robots!
I just read a fascinating article describing a brain-powered robot created by a team of Northeastern University students. Their device captures signals produced in the visual cortex of the brain caused by looking at different parts of a computer screen. When a person directs her gaze at the top left corner of the screen, for example, she sees a specific checkered pattern which triggers a response in the brain. Electrodes on the scalp detect the response and send it to the robot, which moves in a corresponding direction—in this case, forward and to the left.
To me this achievement is incredible, so I was especially amazed to learn this kind of technology really isn’t that new at all.
Check out this video of a paraplegic who uses a chip implanted in his brain to control a computer and open and close a prosthetic hand. Or watch this clip to see how scientists at the University of Pittsburgh taught a monkey to control a robotic arm with his mind.
This is unbelievable, fascinating stuff that until recently I would have dismissed as existing only in the world of science fiction.
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Posted: Neuroscience, Odds and Ends
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