Slashdot Mirror


Computer Control, by Bug and by Brain

electric_mongoose writes "NewScientistTech has a fascinating story about a paralysed man who can control a computer and robot arm using electrodes implanted in his brain. The electrodes measure neural signals generated when he concentrates on trying to move one of his paralysed limbs and software translates these imagined gestures into the movement of an on-screen cursor or a robotic arm. Other researchers have also revealed a way to dramatically boost the efficiency of similar brain implants in monkeys." If you don't have a handy human brain to play with, 9x320 writes points to a report on LiveScience of Wim van Eck's graduation project: a computer game similar to Pac-Man controlled, not by conventional computer code, but by the brain of an insect. From the article:"Instead of computer code, I wanted to have animals controlling the ghosts. To enable this, I built a real maze for the animals to walk around in, with its proportions and layout matching the maze of the computer game. The position of the animals in the maze is detected using colour-tracking via a camera, and linked to the ghosts in the game. This way, the real animals are directly controlling the virtual ghosts."

12 of 76 comments (clear)

  1. Soo.. by RagingFuryBlack · · Score: 2, Funny
    by this time next year every true slashdotter will have the implant in their brain and be using it full-time to post on slashdot. Gone will be RSS feeds and instead all the Slashvertisememts and FUD will be automatically implainted into your brain.


    And I guess this is appropriate... in sovie..nah, thats too easy.

    --
    Warning: Corny karma killing post above.
    1. Re:Soo.. by ManoSinistra · · Score: 3, Funny
      by this time next year every true slashdotter will have the implant in their brain and be using it full-time to post on slashdot
      Step 1: Just sit back, and *think* about commenting Step 2: Think about the words you want to say Step 3: Think about clicking the submit button
      Viola! Post successful. I for one welcome our computerized-brain-chip-implanted-super-karma-post ing overlords.
    2. Re:Soo.. by MarkByers · · Score: 4, Funny

      * Step 1: Just sit back, and *think* about commenting

      Check...

      * Step 2: Think about the words you want to say

      Ahh that's where I've been going wrong. I usually just type without thinking first. Thanks for the tip.

      --
      I'll probably be modded down for this...
  2. Re:Genius! by Rob+T+Firefly · · Score: 4, Funny
    (I assume not much happens when the player catches a fleeing ghost/cricket.
    Actually, Wim van Eck would then reach into the maze and eat the cricket in question. That cost him a few points off his graduation project, but on the bright side they were delicious.
  3. Be careful. by rowama · · Score: 4, Funny

    paralysed man who can control control [sic] computer and robot arm using electrodes implanted in his brain.

    Today's paralytic is tomorrow's cyborg. Children, be careful of whom you make fun.

    Disclaimer: I personally advocate restraint in fun-making for "goodness sake" and not for fear of future retaliation. But there are those who think it cute to make fun of people with disabilities. Hopefully, a cyborg will eventually teach them that such behavior is not acceptable.

  4. Ender? by schmidt349 · · Score: 3, Funny

    "You made the hard choice, boy. But heaven knows there was no other way you could have done it. Congratulations. You beat them, and it's all over."

    All over. Beat them. "I beat you, Mazer Rackham."

    Mazer laughed, a loud laugh that filled the room. "Ender Wiggin, you never played me. You never played a game since I was your teacher."

    Ender didn't get the joke. He had played a great many games, at a terrible cost to himself. He began to get angry.

    Mazer reached out and touched his shoulder. Ender shrugged him off. Mazer then grew serious and said, "Ender Wiggin, for the last months you have been the commander of our fleets. There were no games. The battles were real. Your only enemy was the enemy. You won every battle. Ate every pellet. And finally today you fought them at their little box in the middle of the screen, and you destroyed them completely and even got all the little fruits, and they'll never come against us again. You did it. You."

  5. I can finally win. . . by treeves · · Score: 4, Funny

    at Pac-Man.
    Gotta go out to the garage and find that can of Raid. . .

    --
    ...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
  6. Re:Genius! by whitehatlurker · · Score: 2, Funny

    Actually, that sort of population selection should give rise to better cricket players (er, if you see what I mean).

    --
    .. paranoid crackpot leftover from the days of Amiga.
  7. This just in by linvir · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sony marketing droids, having confused this story with a Nintendo press-release, have announced that the PS3 controller "was going to have a mind-chip all along", and promised a barely functional demonstration model by early next week.

  8. Obligatory Slashdot nitpick by Jeremi · · Score: 3, Funny

    I was awake in the '80s. I knew Pac Man. And that screen shot, sir, is no Pac Man.

    --


    I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
  9. Chimps vs Insects by Sketch · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now all we have to do is get the Ms. Pac-Man playing chimp to play against the insects for absolute animal kingdom Pacman supremacy...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqvRjHaDX6M

    --
    -- OpenVerse Visual Chat: http://openverse.com
  10. I for one welcome... by mindstorms · · Score: 3, Funny

    A beowulf cluster of linux running grits eating insect overlords. Uh... *throws a chair at an old korean e-mail user* .... 2) ????? 3) Profit!!!

    --
    Fighting ignorance with ignorance.