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Mind-Controlled Wheelchair

Posted by michael on from the road-rage dept.

carnun writes "New Scientist is reporting on the design of a new skull cap control mechanism that could lead to the supplanting of implanted electrodes for controlling wheel chairs. The new non-invasive method has been used to control a simple wheeled robots and could have lots of psychological benefits for quadruplegics."

2 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. Re:First a wheelchair by jellisky · · Score: 2, Insightful

    No, no, no!!!

    Like it's not dangerous enough on the roads with the crazy people talking on their cell phones, shaving or putting on makeup, yelling at the kids in the back seats, etc. (often all these at the same time). You can just imagine what could happen.

    *A soccer mom with three kids in the backseat is talking on her ultra-new cell phone.*
    "Yeah, Cindy, you take a left on..." *30-ton SUV drifts to the left lane nearly taking out a person next to her.*
    "... Killdeer Street, then a right..." *The SUV swerves back into its original lane, just missing the car that is trying to get around her.*
    "... on Center Court. We're the third house on the left." *Once again, the SUV swerves left, this time, thankfully, missing everyone.*
    "Yeah, and then-- will you kids shut up and stop..." *The SUV slams on the brakes, nearly causing a five-car pileup behind them. She continues on as if nothing has happened.*
    "... fighting! Otherwise I'll have to turn this car around..." *The SUV begins turning to the left, moving precariously close to the dividing, concrete median. Once again, since the command is short-lived, it stops just in time.*
    "... and take us back home! Sorry about that, Cindy. What were we talking about again?" ...

    Okay, maybe I'm a pessimist. *laughs.*

    -Jellisky

  2. sounds cool by chloroquine · · Score: 2, Insightful
    This seems to be one of those technologies that has a good first impression but the more you think about it, the more you see the problems. Of course that's what I said about cloning an entire organism about ten years ago.

    Getting a hig quality EEG from a moving person who is presumably travelling over uneven ground sounds like it might be a touch difficult. Are there other brain visualization techniques that are small and portable and are associated with phenomenon that people can consciously control? I'm not a neurologist. Anyone have any ideas?

    I guess this is the first step to making a real cyborg.