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Brain Controlled Virtual World for the Disabled
Galactic_grub writes "New Scientist Tech has a story about a virtual world that paralyzed patients can explore using their thoughts. The set-up connects a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) to virtual reality so that a person can 'walk' through it, simply by thinking of moving their legs or their left or right hand. Electrodes are attached to their scalp and electroencephalogram (EEG) readings are used to navigate, or control an avatar. The story includes a video of the experiment."
Even more simply, this kind of brain-machine interface could be used to control motorized prosthetic hands and arms. As I understand, amputees currently rely on flexing their shoulder muscles, for example, to controlled a motorized hand. More capabilities could be added to these devices if controlling them becomes easier.
Yeah. I don't have the link on me at the moment, but DARPA recently announced an impressive new prosthetic arm prototype with plans to build an even beter one. Apparently it's got a two-way connection, with tactile feedback to the nervous system. Great!
Revive the Constitution.
This reminds me of a gaming console that Atari worked on in the mid-1980s called the Atari Mindlink, very similar concept except it used infrared sensors to measure the movement of the muscles in your head.
0 0/mindlink.html
http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/consoles/26