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Think And Click
cecil36 writes: "Yahoo! has reported that scientists have discovered neural technology that allowed a monkey to control a mouse cursor using the brain. ... Further reading states that this technology can be used with the paralyzed or those with Lou Gehrig's Disease to allow them to use their computers."
Better than an optical mouse, it's...a cognitive mouse?
Technical Writer?
They used the monkey's internal wiring to allow it to manipulate a peripheral "arm" that was attached to a "hand" with several digits allowing not only the movement of the mouse but also pressing of buttons as well.
Hooray for Science!
...does that mean we're now going to have to design computers that are easy enough for a monkey to use?
The new distribution's name could be: Mandrill Linux 8.2 (also known as Red Butt Linux...)
Hmmm...I guess those Ximian guys have been on to this for a while...
Reminder: find a new sig
And for some reason, we kept getting all these different screenplays...something called "Hamlet", and another called "Othello"...
That and complaints about having wires jammed in its brain...
...but it's being eaten...by some...Linux or something...
Is that I will no longer be beatable in any FPS game. My mental aim is flawless. You are all dead.
I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
Wouldn't it be embarrassing to find your computer downloading pr0n everytime one of those Herbal Essences commercials comes on the TV?
Shockwave Flash movies are the greatest thing to happen to non-sequitur humor since Japan.
"Going one step further, her team then trained the monkey to simply think about a movement, without reaching out and touching the screen."
So how exactly do you train a monkey to think about doing something without doing it? I'm quite surprised that they were able to do that with the current level of communication between primates and humans.
~Eric
...scientists have discovered neural technology that allowed a monkey to control a mouse cursor...
That's right. AOL 7.0 is all new, and easier than ever!
do not read this line twice.
this technology can be used with the paralyzed or those with Lou Gehrig's Disease to allow them to use their computers.
That's nice and all, but better yet, it can be used by lazy bastards like me who don't want to burn the calories it takes to work the mouse.
-- Sigs are for losers
...the "other" scientists have made a breakthrough where a "monkey" can be controlled by another "monkey" via a remote system.
Paranoia or just a joke... you decide.
Two people with these things and radio tramsmitters could potentialy communicate "telepathicly". Awesome.
Im not here now... Im out KILLING pepperoni
The article doesn't have much detail on the actual transmition of the signal. Well other than the fact that I would hesistate to stick anything in my head these days, I wonder how precise an activity like this is. Signal could be effected by other signals in the area. Like how hearing implants can be effected by cellphones.
Oh well still seems cool.
Maybe a better application of this would be for 3D apps in the future. 3D Mice suck.
Word.
Good to see Katz is taking Dubya up on his volunteerism agenda and making himself available as a research subject.
This is really nothing new.
The Cyberlink Interface: Hands Free Brain-Body Actuated Control for Augmentation and Enhancement of Human Computer Interaction(produced in 1999), and their website
And an article from last year about a similar device.
Does this mean that I can finaly have the "Focus Follow's Brain" option in my window manager? I'm tired of telling people in IRC what shell commands I'm trying to run and I don't like my naughty IRC comments being logged in .bash_history.
Why is it so hot? Where am I going? What am I doing in this handbasket?
This will allow me to keep both hands free while I surf for porn.
Hammer of Truth
It might improve your response time, if the signal travels faster from brain through reader to cable into computer, than from brain through neural system to hand to mouse to cable to computer.
The upgrade I'm looking forward to is when they can emulate the individual neurons in chips, then replace the neurons (one by one if necessary) and accelerate any discrete subsystems that have been fully replaced. Output to computer should then go a bit faster, not to mention better possibility of revival if my body gets shut down (and I don't mean just sleep).
Getting the monkey to understand where you want to move the mouse.
.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I saw this on a special about 'future tech' on PBS one time. the US Air Force was working on it. The current system used electrodes on the forehead.
Also, there was a biofeedback-based game controller that looked like a Secret Decoder Ring or something, that a guy was playing a skiing game with.
Alright now all we need a plane you could fly this way :)
:)
:)
Seriously think of the plethora of military applications, Im sure they are. I wonder how much room for error or lingering thoughts there is .
Its esay , sometimes to think about something and not pysically execute that movement. WHAT HAPPENS when you JUST THINK and it happens, I could think of all kinds of scenarios this would be MUY bad, remember the end of the first ghostbusters movie
Typing in this manner or "mousing" would be pretty cool if they could come up with a completley exeternal device, having wires sewn into my brain sac dont sound like much fun. Hopefully this is a firt step in 2 way electronic to neural communication links, think about what a computer could teach a person who was say paralyzed, analyze neural paths and make calculated reccomndations for rerouting directly to the brain, that was your movement would be through EXISTING undamaged pathways, then again a glitch in the software might make you wet your pants every time you try to scratch you foot but hey its progress
Sig went tro...aahemmm.....fishing........
More like trying to close all the damn popups... or... uh... so I've been told.
``In fact,'' she said, ``we found that he became quite reluctant to move his arm to the reach command once the cursor was introduced into the game. Apparently it was easier just to think about reaching.''
Wow, this is good news not just for the handicapped but also for those of us who are just plain lazy. Often times I find myself _thinking_ of doing things but never actually _doing_ them.
I Heart Sorting Networks
Well, it wouldn't be hands-free, just no hands working the computer....
Sorry, couldn't resist that one
-Space for rent
US Patent #5,960,412 : One-Thought-Shopping:
A method and system for placing an order to purchase an item via the Internet. The order is placed by a purchaser at a client brain and received by a server system. The server system receives purchaser information including identification of the purchaser, payment information, and shipment information from the client brain. The server system then assigns a client identifier to the client brain and associates the assigned client identifier with the received purchaser information. The server system sends to the client system the assigned client identifier and an HTML document identifying the item and including an order button. The client brain receives and stores the assigned client identifier and receives and displays the HTML document. In response to the selection of the order button, the client brain sends to the server system a request to purchase the identified item. The server system receives the request and combines the purchaser information associated with the client identifier of the client brain to generate an order to purchase the item in accordance with the billing and shipment information whereby the purchaser effects the ordering of the product by selection of the order button.
Step 2: Record neural signature before and during actions of Step 1.
Step 3: Remove mouse from monkey.
Step 4: Show picture of food along with picture of mouse cursor, at a random relative angle.
Step 5: Reward monkey if and only if detecting neural signature of monkey making correct mouse vector movement.
Step 6: Repeat steps 4 and 5.
Step 7: Publish statistics.
Frankly, I won't be satisfied until they wire the monkey's brain to the Universal Translator
As the article states, the monkeys controlled a screen cursor, not a mouse cursor. There was no mechanical pointing device (mouse, trackball, etc.) involved. What sets this research apart from other work done in this area is that electrodes were implanted directly into a specific, targeted, area of the brain. Other research had been done with either generalized implanted electrodes or surface electrodes (like are used on an EEG machine).
Chaos maximizes locally around me.
The real nifty applications will come when this neuronal interfacing technology will be used to bypass deficient nerve links (spine damage) or to supplement/replace deficient muscle (muscular dystrophy and a ton of other debilitating illnesses).
I think focusing on computers is missing the point. It's not the ability to send email that is important here. It's the possibility of having protheses and artificial capacities integrated in the neural feedback loop. Prothesic legs that 1) you can contol by thought instead of having to provide commands, and 2) send back balance information, now that would be a revolution.
We are getting closer. That's an excellent news.
--
Mad science! Robots! Underwear! Cute girls! Full comic online! http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/
These guys have had a commercially available
brain actuated mouse cursor gizmo out for years.
http://www.brainfingers.com/cyberlink.htm
Keyloggers are a thing of the past now! Now the big bad men in suits can just sit outside your apartment and scan your brainwaves to detect all your pr0n and warez passwords! Just think! Or...erm...don't!
"Mod, mod, mod...and another troll bites the dust."
This press release is kinda interesting. First, the work was presented over two months ago. Second, the work was carried out in the lab of Richard Andersen. Yet Andersen, who has spent a lot of the last decade reorganizing his lab around such efforts, was not mentioned. Instead, Meeker, a graduate student on the project was named. In addition, all this work in the Andersen lab was spearheaded by a person who is now at Stanford, Krishna Shenoy who recently left the lab. In addition, the intellectual property for the project, the patents, are co-authored by Andersen and Shenoy.
It's kinda weird when you know a bit about the work behind these press releases, and then see how it is actually presented to the "lay" public.
Personally, I think the project has a low probability of success. A neural prosthetic device should be interfaced with as peripheral part of the nervous system as possible. This group has chosen to use as abstract a part of the nervous system as possible. But maybe they'll prove me wrong.
neural technology that allowed a monkey to control a mouse
Anyone who has ever worked tech support knows that this technology is nothing new. Every day our voice mail is full of these mouse controlling monkey-brained folks.
There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
:wq
So how exactly do you train a monkey to think about doing something without doing it?
I would ask why they even wasted their time training a monkey to *think* about moving a mouse. Just give him the mouse, and disconnect the damn thing.
THEN, if successful, maybe go to that step.. but since we don't need paralyzed monkey's moving mice, I would recommend doing something a little more useful.
"I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
While I'm sure this could substantially enhance the lives of the paralyzed (for example), the widespread use of such systems in e.g. driving or piloting (particularly by healthy individuals) could be a real problem.
If there's one lesson the Internet has taught us, it's that the less separation there is between thought and action, the more people will do stupid things.
The area of the brain mentioned in the article has to do with the early "desire to act", long before many of the normal checks and balances governing our actions come into play.
Has anyone seen the episode of Red Dwarf where Lister gets the prosthetic arm and can't stop it from beating up Kryten?
DNA just wants to be free...
. . .I'm all for increased computer accessibility, and this is an important step.
Everytime I'm out mountain biking, or inline skating, or kicking ass in a bar fight I worry about what I'll do if I break my arm or hand.
This technology isn't just for people with debilitating disease or amputees. It's for the punk who tried an eight foot jump on his cross country hardtail and bit it hard.
Here's an exercise for those of you reading this right now. Try to move to the last story without using your hands.
Anything that makes computers easier to use I'm all for.
obviously no deficiencies vs. no obvious deficiencies
The actual reseacrh described in the Yahoo article using implanted electrodes seems a bit strange - though the claim to have identified a few individual neurons is interesting.
Most of the other groups are working with stick-on electrodes. At the moment all they can do is move a mosue around a screen and click, but progress seems to be good - Correct recognition is around 70% after 5 one-hour sessions, which sounds impressive to me. The big obstacle to getting this into service for real people with disabilities is that the hardware is currently a bit chunky, especially the EEG machine. But we all know what happens to hardware, very, very quickly.
Oh - and, yes, the guy i talked to says the thing that secretlty drives him is eventually using it to play Quake. (Wonderful thing, altrusim)
Now wouldn't that be cool.(Unfortuantely you have to shave your head, I think!)
Great, here we go, next thing you know our decendants will be ruled by super monkeys.
Let me say it now 'Get your filthy paws off me you damned dirty clicking ape'.
Borg monkeys will be the bane of organ grinders everywhere.
Regards,
I am me...I think
Daniella is part of Richard Anderson's lab at Caltech. They research motor planning and spatial orientation. It is a very interesting place.
As pointed out in the article, the area from which they record makes this experiment significantly different from previous ones. Several lab have done similar work, but they were less sure of the origin of their signal. Much of the sensory and motors areas of the cortex are right next to each other. It was not clear whether the recorded signals were motor signals or sensory signals driven by stretch sensors within muscles or something similar. The area Daniella records from is fairly far away from sensory cortex. There is much less chance that they are recording feedback from the sensory side. For comparison, examine an older story from a team of competitors.
The details:
First the monkey was tricked into installing "Comet Cursor." Then, after the 17th X10 popup ad, he finally just began hurling feces at the monitor. Fortunately, Matthew Broderick came along and rescued him.
I love the part about how the monkey, once it realized that it didn't have to move in order to get the computer to respond, became reluctant to move.
This is much like what happens when a man gets a remote control - he becomes reluctant to move...
Seriously though, the question is, are the neurons they are watching affected by diseases like ALS? If so, then this sort of technique wouldn't benefit people like Dr. Hawking....
www.eFax.com are spammers
Sounds like a page out of Neuromancer.
Wooden armaments to battle your imaginary foes!
I want it...I must have these implants. I must have them for one reason and one reason only... the most important reason of all!
So I can say
"It is by will alone that I set my cursor in motion"
-Steve
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Just wait until someone discovers that by displaying a shocking image, they can trigger the click.
Some poor schmuck triggers the wrong thing, gets trapped in the pr0n maze and ends up in the hospital with 'schizoid forced feedback syndrome'.
After the various lawsuits work their way through the system...
Someone else will come out with 'web blinders' for the safe calm web experience. No one should surf without them, or Peace of mind is a precious thing, preserving it with Web Blinders is the easiest most effective investment toward your future sanity you can make today.
Blogging because I can...
What an honor, to be the first monkey to move a mouse with your mind. Not only that, but all the lady monkey's really like your new high-tech hat.
(Did anybody else wonder why there were no pictures in the article?)
SCIENCE!
Does this mean that banner ads will now start urging us to "Think Here!!!!"
Take a look at the Cyberlink You wear a headband and control the mouse by thinking. Sounds like the same thing.
Philip Kennedy did something similar in 1998 with humans. I witnessed an operation where he implanted an electrode in a monkey over 10 years ago. He also received a 1999 Discover Technical Innovation Award for the same work. Check out: http://www.emory.edu/WHSC/HSNEWS/releases/feb99/02 2399brain.html
Now software engineers will get even less exercise.
managers...why god invented purgatory
technology that allowed a monkey to control a mouse
You mean even G.W. Bush will be able to use a computer...
Opus: the Swiss army knife of audio codec
And then Stephen Hawking will really be able to get some work done, instead of having to use the crappy computer interface he's currently restricted to.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
I'm more worried about amazon...
They'll have a heyday with "One Thought Shopping!"
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
I'm sure that after they're done with the experimentation they have to remove the monkey brain and examine it for debilitating side effects. So the monkey doesn't have to live life with a hi-tech hat after all!
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Now, I want a combo neural keyboard and mouse. I'll be the faster coder on Earth, and graphic work will be a breeze! Not to mention, when it's time for a little UT break, I'll be dead accurate!
When this is sufficiently fine tuned and is possible for humans to use safely, I'm gonna have a heyday.
Bare with me for just a moment - Anyone read the Quantum Leap books? Beckett used a part of his own brain to help create Ziggy.. to help bridge the gap between sheer computation and human reasoning.. .
That and this article provoke an interesting thought - can this sort of technology be used to prematurely enable "artificial" intelligence in computers? Think about it: an advanced, organic brain being fed information from digital sources, and those sources of information reacting to the thoughts of the brain. It could enable a monkey to have very advanced visual and auditory inputs... would human-like intelligence come about? This is another form of the question chimpanzee researchers have been asking for ages: What if chimps had the physical ability for something as advanced as vocal speech?
Wendell
Uh oh!
------ Curiosity killed the cat. {satisfaction brought it back | it didn't die ignorant | lack of it is killing mankind
Where do I sign up?
On second thought, forget the first question.
sic transit gloria mundi
and you can get your aluminum foil deflector beanie here! Don't forget to run the MindGuard software too. Someone obviously put lots of time and effort into it.
Geez, you know... I'm pretty sure I ran into that monkey on IRC the other day.
Now people with Lou Gehrig's Disease may also be in danger of catching "CmdrTaco's Disease".
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
The concept's been around science fiction for a while. I'd like to see it made real.
If you give each neuron a hundred sixty-four bit numbers to model its total "state" (logically, not physically), then, today a billion dollars will buy you a computer that can handle and process the equivalent of anyone's brain.
I agree with the spirit of your post in general, but...all this for only one billion dollars? I was under the impression it cost quite a bit more, today. Numbers, please? (Number of neurons that can be emulated by a certain CPU * price for that CPU model, plus equivalents for RAM and so forth.)