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Wheelchair Controlled by Thought
macduffman writes "New Scientist reports on another development in interfacing with the central nervous system. The system 'eavesdrops' on signals sent from the brain to the larynx, so even people who lack the muscular control to vocalize a command can operate it. The potential applications of this technology are as varied as human imagination, among them: allowing a person who has lost speech capability to vocalize again." From the article:"The wheelchair could help people with spinal injuries, or neurological problems like cerebral palsy or motor neurone disease, operate computers and other equipment despite serious problems with muscle control. The system will work providing a person can still control their larynx, or 'voice box,' which may be the case even if the lack the muscle coordination necessary to produce coherent speech."
...but I'm more down to play a real next-gen gaming system ;)
I'll be in the cyberspace lobby.
"Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies." -Thomas Jefferson
If it's eavesdropping on the signals sent to your larynx, does that mean that you can't talk and drive at the same time?
Does it mean that saying "I left my keys at home" while driving on the sidewalk is going to send you hurtling into traffic?
You are awash in a sea of fiercely stated opinions. Obvious exits are: 'File->Quit', 'Reply', and 'Page Down'.
You have to think in Russian!
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I was flipping bits on an abacus, newb.
For another cool demo of the Audeo and how it was developed, you can watch a 5-minute video here:
http://www.ni.com/niweek/keynote_videos.htm
It's under "Tuesday" -- the last topic titled "Algorithm Engineering, Michael Callahan, Thomas Coleman"
Enjoy!
I always wonder whether embedding a glucose powered computer of some description into a new-born baby's brain would give them super math ability.. if you can fit a wireless connection in there too, that'd be nice.
I guess there's no ethical way to do it though.
How we know is more important than what we know.
He wants his chair back, and no - you can't ask the Talosians for another look at the Vina reconstruction.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
The Nintendo Wiilchair?
Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
For a short time in college I was on a research team looking into this kind of stuff. (Way back in '93, this was) The electrical impulses that are meant for your vocal chords, but are suppressed because you don't want to (or can't) speak are called "covert oral behavior." Anyway, even back then, we were working on training up neural networks to translate the signals into words/phonemes. I'm sure the technology has come a long way since then.
Right around 9/11 and the whole Gitmo thing I started thinking, "I'll bet covert oral behavior detection is being used to interrogate prisoners." The thing is, the signals "leak" down your nerves when you only think words, but don't say them. The trick is being able to interpret them and translate them to words. Not easy by any stretch, but once successful it would be the closest thing to ESP around.
Well, how much information do you really need to drive a wheelchair?
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Not much. I'm sure there are four discernible signals to the larynx, probably more. Just a quick guess, but you could probably detect the following sequences of long/short "uh" sounds:
short short (uh uh)
short long (uh uuuuh)
long short (uuuuh uh)
long long (uuuuh uuuuh)
There's four signals.