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Teich's Tech Tidbit
November 2003
Controlling Machines With Your Brain
Teich's Tech Tidbit
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| Neuroscience is currently one of the hottest fields in science, and
one of the most exciting technological possibilities coming out of neuroscience
is the control of machines with brain waves. Recent research has
brought that possibility much closer to reality. Experiments with
mice, and more recently, with monkeys have demonstrated that it can be
done. Electrodes are implanted in the part of the monkey's brain
that controls arm movement. The animal uses a joystick to move a
cursor on a computer screen and "grab" an object. If it succeeds,
it gets a treat. As it learns to do this, its brain generates a pattern
of electrical activity. The pattern is recorded and used to duplicate
the motion with a robot arm. At some point , the joystick is disconnected
from the robot arm. When the monkey moves the joystick however, the
electrical signals from the brain still move the robot arm. Eventually,
the monkey learns that it doesn't actually have to move the joystick --
it just has to think about the motion.
Although the technology has yet to be tested on humans, that next step is coming soon. A firm called Cyberkinetics, Inc., founded by Brown University researchers (see below), is working on a device that will allow severely disabled people to operate a computer. And a computer, of course, can be made to control a huge range of technological devices. The idea, according a recent New York Times article, "is to hook [paralyzed individuals] up to a computer with their thoughts [controlling] the usual point and click action." The experiment is awaiting FDA approval. The prospects are enormously exciting . . . but, as with almost any technology, they can also be chilling. Anthony Tether, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which funds some of this research, spoke of the military potential at a meeting last year: Imagine 25 years from now where old guys like me put on a pair of glasses or a helmet and open our eyes. Somewhere there will be a robot that opens its eyes and we will be able to see what the robot sees. We will be able to remotely look down on a cave and think to ourselves. 'Let's go down there and kick some butt.' And the robots will respond, controlled by our thoughts. It's coming. Imagine a warrior--with the intellect of a human and the immortality of a machine--controlled by our thoughts.I'm not sure which is scarier: the idea of thought-controlled robots used as weapons, or the notion that 25 years from now we'll still be searching our enemies in caves. |
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Sandra Blakeslee, "Imagining Thought-Controlled Movement for Humans," The New York Times (October 14, 2003). Posted on FreeRepublic.com. Report on a recent experiment (see next item) with ensuing discussion. Laboratory of Miguel Nicolelis, the Duke University neuroscience professor whose research, published in the online journal of the Public Library of Science, is the basis of the above news report. The flash-enabled site (fast connections recommended) includes an animation and much more information about the research. Enhanced with Brazilian music, information about the Brazilian soccer team, Palmieras, and more, this may be the coolest academic site you'll find on the web. "Thought-Controlled Prosthetics?" June 2002 press release about a paper published in the June 7 issue of the journal, Science by Andrew Schwartz of Arizona State University. Schwartz reported that monkeys were able to move balls around in 3D space on a computer screen just by thinking about it. There's also an article based on the release on "Innovations Report." Jay Lyman, "Monkeys Demonstrate Thought-Controlled Computing," NewsFactor Network (March 25, 2002). Report on a study by researchers at Brown University, similar to the one above, published in the March 14, 2002 issue of Nature. See, also, a report on this study on BBC News and the Brown University press release about the paper. Synopsis of the PBS TV show, Scientific American Frontiers, "The Bionic Body: Segment 5, Mind Over Matter." Report about Andrew Junker, who has rigged his sailboat to respond to his brain waves. "Demonstration of Direct Control of Robot Arm from the Brain," fairly technical description of a 1999 experiment using rats conducted by John Chapin's lab at SUNY Health Sciences Center in Brooklyn. Cyberkinetics, Inc.
Massachusetts-based start-up company involving Brown University researchers
John Donoghue and Mijail Serruya. "Cyberkinetics’ lead product development
effort is the Braingate™ Neural Interface Device. Based on years of pre-clinical
development at Brown University, the Braingate™ is intended to provide
severely disabled patients with a permanent, direct and reliable interface
to a personal computer."
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