Slashdot Mirror
Brain Chip Approved For Paralysis Research
dalillama writes "The BBC is reporting that tests are underway for the clinical trials of the "Brain Gate" computer chip, placed in the brains of paralysis patients. They hope the chips will map out nerve impulses which are sent to limbs, so that they can then be translated into computer code and sent to future artificial limbs. " Thanks to Robert Brooks for pointing out this closely related piece.
...when High Times picks it up!
Combine this with the robotic exoskelton legs that MIT(?) just revealed, and we'll have Stephen Hawking in the marathon in no time (a la Onion)
From the article: "The signals will be monitored through wires emerging from the skull, which presents some danger of infection. The company is working on a wireless version"
If they can work out a way to hook it into an 802.11g home network, i'd get one fitted, paralysis or not!
Imagine being able to control devices in the home as easily as controlling a limb. Of course controlling those same devices when drunk would be another matter entirely...
...the porn / spam industry get's a hold of these?
I can't wait until I start receiving the "enhance your member through the powers of bionics!" spam...
Because they don't know which parts to connect. It would suck if every time you had to go pee your right leg would start shaking uncontrollably.
He tried to kill me with a forklift!
I wonder if they are going to have some kind of "reboot" feature in case the hardware starts failing or the software goes haywire. (Insert standard Windows BSOD joke here.) Seriously, though, I'd hate to see somebody's limbs just start moving erratically and without any control. That would be a nightmare.
I don't know how they would actually implement such a feature, but it just seems kinda dangerous to me without it.
When Cyberkinetics was a lab at Brown University, I design an amplifier array for the wireless implant mentioned in the article. The medical possibilities for the research are really pretty interesting, especially once the next generation probe is done. The trouble is that the medical possibilities are icing, and the cake is a control system for the exoskeleton of the soldier of the future... that's right, another fine DARPA technology.
- - - Patent applied for and deliver us from evil
OK, so you start with artificial limbs, move on to military projects with vision, audio, vehicle control, then in 30 years it hits the commercial market.
Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
We have the technology. We can rebuild him, make him faster, stronger, better...
Whooo chechechechechecheche...
-- the only good thing the French ever did was two chicks at one time
How long before I can use my laptop to hack into my friend's motor control and make him dance?
~~Guildencrantz
Penguin Trivia #46: Animals who are not penguins can only wish they were. -- Chicago Reader 10/15/82
who immediately thinks of a remotely controlled girlfriend with force-feedback? :)
Ray Kurzweil wrote an interesting book about the progression of technology over the next 100 years. Based on his law of accelerating returns, he predicts various events for the next few decades until the Singularity.
The book was published in 2000, and already he'd made quite a few accurate predictions, and many since then have been accurate as well.
no comment
Why cant they just connect the brain to the legs and get the guy moving?
That's the desired end result, I believe. However, it's not that simple. You need to figure out which part of the brain actually does the moving, which signal does what. Then you have to figure out which part of the leg to stimulate to make it move. Amputees would probably be easier to help than parapalegics, because when you make them an artificial arm or leg you know exactly how that limb works (the trick is telling it to move as easily as your natural limb). And in the future if this technology actually works there will probably be no physical connection between your brain and the paralized/artificial limb because to run wires through your body is uneccesary surgery and to run wires outside the body is unsightly. The connection will probably be wireless, though this opens up security issues (what happens if two parapalegics who have similar frequencies walk too close to each other... will one be able to move the other's leg if the interference is just right?)
I'm no expert, and it doesn't mention walking in the article, but I wonder if one will be able to walk using a system like this since the impulses from the nerve endings in the legs will never be sent back into the brain. It's kinda like trying to walk without being able to feel your legs. I doubt I could do it.
My (admittedly limited) understanding of the brain is that it sends an electric impulse to the muscles so why not try to emulate that impulse?
Reverse engineering is the only way at the moment do so at the moment since the Supreme Being hasn't opened the source to the API.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
While this is interesting and innovative technology, when is it too much? How much further will this go? Not to sound like a tinfoil fashion junkie, but what if this kind of stuff gets put into the wrong hands? Honestly. With companies like Cisco, APC, and others putting hardcoded backdoors into their products, what if someone decided the same was neccessary on a wireless version of this device? Don't get me wrong, new technology is amazing. But IMHO it is something to be feared and respected. Maybe somethings are best never invented. Pacemakers are awesome, but a chip to control muscle functions in the brains of paralysis patients seems a bit frightening. Especially if a wireless version is to emerge. No, it wouldn't be un-wep'ed 802.11b, but nonetheless this, to me is an alert. I don't know anyone personally who is paralyzed, so maybe I don't take this as seriously as others, but I can't see myself having a foreign object implanted into my brain any time soon. Of course extensive testing will be done to ensure that the product is usable for deployed to patients but can you imagine a failure of this? What if it (the chip) becomes uncontrollable for any number of reasons?
while true ; do echo this is my sig; done
My question is: What is the bandwidth of the human brain. If we put it into terms of both latency (time before signal hits destination and a result is returned) and pipe size (how much data can we push through at a given time).
Does our bring have a "ping." That is to say, if we had a leg where the nerve receptors has died, but the muscle nerves work (leprosy?), can you tell if it is moving when we want it to, or is the only return signal from the nerves that sense touch?
It would be interesting to see if a wireless connection could handle brain bandwidth. I'd imagine that for the simple operatings such as moving an object etc low bandwidth is required. For a fully pluggable experience (how about integrating touch, hearing, and the optic nerve to pilot a mini-plane) I'd imagine that quite a lot of bandwidth is needed, as well as fairly low latency.
But then again, I was recently at the doctor's doing exercises when I noticed that if I tried to do leg pumps too fast, my leg would be trying to "pull" when at times it should be doing a "push" and so I either get a short stroke or a shutter. Is this the same as a data collision or just lack of reaction speed due to the muscle not being well enough toned (the muscle is degenerated due to being immobilized from a break, but muscle tone is probably already average compared to most people).
mapping the brain could be interesting. especially on boundary conditions like in programming. what happens when the brain dies, what are the last signals it sends out?
Dude, I just pinged your head. Your brain is lagging big time.
You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
Does it go "RIIIP!" and a chunk of your skin is torn off the side of your head? ;)
Now we need to perfect the genetic technology so that Spider Man can fight him off when he shows up and starts trashing New York.