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Honda Robot Controlled By Brain Waves

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the my-cybernetic-army-thanks-you-in-advance dept.

Dotnaught writes "Honda researchers to have developed a way to control robots using human brain waves. Using brain signals read from a person in a magnetic resonance imaging scanner, a robotic hand mirrored the movement of the human controller, spreading its fingers and making a 'V' sign."

15 of 137 comments (clear)

  1. I for one . . . by cashman73 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I for one welcome our new mind-reading overlords!

  2. At least they aren't thinking for themselves... by FrontalLobe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    On the other hand... I'm sure AI would be more peaceful than some that would get their hands on the technology

    --
    -FL
    1. Re:At least they aren't thinking for themselves... by eln · · Score: 4, Funny

      My God, you're right! With this technology, someone could poke both of your eyes at once. We must invent a robotic hand we can put up against our noses to block this weapon immediately.

  3. finally! by dwarfling · · Score: 3, Funny

    guess vulcan trekkies have robo friends ;)

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    /. what was first the slash or the dot ./ ?
  4. Unfortunately... by GillBates0 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...further trials resulted in the robotic hand trying to touch itself every other minute and repeatly making lewd gestures with it's middle finger.

    --
    An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
  5. With mind-reading robots available by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...can a Stephen Hawking Transformer be far behind?

  6. With this technology by donglekey · · Score: 4, Funny

    I could steal old people's medicine

    --

    This Wiki Feeds You TV and Anime - vidwiki.org
  7. I've always thought... by Temujin_12 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ...that it was only a matter of time until we started to see brain-to-machine mappings for communication. The possibilities are very exciting (coding with your brain anyone?). What scares me is when efforts are taken to have machine-to-brain communication. Call me crazy, but I prefer my own synapses to be the only source of thought in my brain. I don't even want to begin to think what it could happen when the machine segfaults (or gets hacked into) while injecting thoughts into my brain.

    --
    Faith is a willingness to accept something w/o complete proof and to act on it. Reason allows you to correct that faith.
  8. Ask and ye shall receive by spun · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here ya go.

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  9. universality? by Red+Flayer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So, does the MRI interpreting algorithm need to be tailored to each user, or could an 'off-the-shelf' interpreter work for anyone?

    While I'm sure that bloodflow signatures for physical movements are similar between individuals, is there too much variability to prevent false recognition of a 'signal'?

    Any neurobiologists out there care to help out?

    --
    "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
    1. Re:universality? by venicebeach · · Score: 4, Interesting

      So, does the MRI interpreting algorithm need to be tailored to each user, or could an 'off-the-shelf' interpreter work for anyone? While I'm sure that bloodflow signatures for physical movements are similar between individuals, is there too much variability to prevent false recognition of a 'signal'?

      At this point, it is surprising that they can even do it for an individual (discerning among these three quite similar hand movements). I am kind of skeptical myself. There is a lot of variability in fMRI signal even within an individual. I would guess the system is trained on a specific individual.

      Between individuals you have additional sources of variability; for example, the foldings of the cortex are quite different from person to person. I personally have a very unusual precentral gyrus on the left side. Activity maps are typically aligned to anatomical maps so finding correspondences between individuals has to deal with the challenges of anatomical variability.

      For gross things, it can be quite obvious what the person is doing. I can tell by looking at the activations in your brain if you are looking at something versus hearing something. But looking at a duck versus looking at a cow? Much harder. Making a V-sign versus making a fist? I've never seen a paper where someone reported being able to do this. It is theoretically possible, but difficult with a blurry MRI signal that aggregates over populations of neurons. You can certainly do it if you implant electrodes into the brain. Recordings from monkey premotor cortex, for example, find neurons that fire when specific movements are made.

  10. hmmmm by venicebeach · · Score: 4, Informative

    I've done some fMRI of motor movements... All these movements, the fist, the V-sign, would activate the hand area, premotor cortex, and some parietal areas... I am very skeptical that you could tell the difference between them. But if they can that is very impressive, especially to do it in real time...

    By the way, MRI does not measure "brain waves". It measures blood oxygenation changes, which are related to the firing of neurons.

  11. like the monkey stuff from a few years ago by kaan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    About 3 years ago, some scientists hooked up a chimpanzee and captured brain signals to control a robotic arm. Their results were quite a bit more impressive I think, because the robotic arm had full motion control, and was physically located several hundred miles away from the chimp. But still, this stuff from Honda is cool, because it's controlled by humans using mri, not wires plugged into your brain like the monkey stuff. I just hope they don't try to put brain controller stuff in their vehicles...

    Here's an article from New Scientist:
    http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4262

  12. It's probably just latency by PIPBoy3000 · · Score: 3, Informative
    You have to remember how MRI's work:
    It has been known for over 100 years (Roy and Sherrington 1890) that changes in blood flow and blood oxygenation in the brain (collectively known as hemodynamics) are closely linked to neural activity. When nerve cells are active they consume oxygen carried by hemoglobin in red blood cells from local capillaries. The local response to this oxygen utilisation is an increase in blood flow to regions of increased neural activity, occurring after a delay of approximately 1-5 seconds.
    Add in some computing time to process the image and you've got your latency right there.
  13. So, here's the technical question... by caudron · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...is it still called "masturbation" if the robot is the one doing it to you?

    Tom Caudron
    http://tom.digitalelite.com/

    P.S. I look forward to 15 years from now when my daughter reads this comment after searching on my name. What a proud moment in my history to share with future generations. :(

    --
    -Tom