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Japan's Cyborg Research Enters the Skull
RemyBR writes "Researchers at Osaka University are stepping up efforts to develop robotic body parts controlled by thought, by placing electrode sheets directly on the surface of the brain. The research marks Japan's first foray into invasive (i.e. requiring open-skull surgery) brain-machine interface research on human test subjects. The aim of the research is to develop real-time mind-controlled robotic limbs for the disabled. 'To date, the researchers have worked with four test subjects to record brain wave activity generated as they move their arms, elbows and fingers. Working with Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR), the researchers have developed a method for analyzing the brain waves to determine the subject's intended activity to an accuracy of greater than 80%.'"
Wouldn't it be easier to place the electrodes on the peripheral nerves that would normally have controlled the missing limb? Surely, that would be preferable to opening the skull...
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~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
I give it about 2 months until they come up with a gameshow using the new technology.
Open brain surgery and mind controlled robot, dangerous? pff! That doesn't sound dangerous at all!
Is this the good research or the cow-whale crossbreed research?
Which provides the greater threat to civilization: Dr. Octupus (insidious human intelligence in control of super, robotically enhanced strength) or Skynet (insidious artificial intelligence in control of super, robotically enhanced strength)?
Just make sure to say no if one these subjects starts asking for more tritium!
I got a catholic block.
If you think you would definitely slap that ass, your limb will actually do it. Woops.
Does that mean I can finally get a robotic prehensile tail installed? Or will they only work on installing "replacement" parts that are "supposed" to be there?
I think the most interesting thing about research like this is, not only the technology behind the interface, but the fact that the brain it self will adapt to use the new interface.
The basic concept of the brain is it's ability to create pathways to 'memorize' an action. This is why a right handed person can learn to write with the left hand. In the same way the brain can learn how to manipulate the interface and thus create new pathways to make it an innate action
Couldn't agree more. Do you know how much easier it would be for me to shoot my shoulder-fire missile if it was seen by my brain as part of my body?
am really excited about such research, mostly because it brings us another step closer to the day when we can even enhance our brains (and physical capabilities) using machines.
It makes me wonder if physically and mentally challenged people are going to be the most important players in our meta-evolution into a man-machine hybrid. After all people would naturally freak out at first if someone suggested using this kind of technology on healthy humans to "enhance" them, because the idea is alien and it is natural to be scared of the unknown. But once this kind of technology is mainstream and is used routinely to bring at par people who would otherwise be seriously challenged, then much of the fear would be quelled. The next obvious step would be to lower the bar of what constitutes "challenged".
Too bad I might be dead before they figure out how to interface a "google chip" of sorts and all the knowledge known to mankind is just a thought away.
Hopefully they've thought of this already, but I could totally see them getting bogged down in studies of the nature "Ok, try to pick up cup A, now cup B" etc and overlooking what the device would do during the rest of the time when you're NOT picking up a cup.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
"This will feel... a little weird."
The problem with socialism is that they always run out of other people's money. - Margaret Thatcher
He's engaging my vocal function .... and is now inside.
I think the most interesting thing about research like this is, not only the technology behind the interface, but the fact that the brain it self will adapt to use the new interface.
:P
Yeah, it's amazing. I've seen a lesser version of this in the "thought controlled mouse" some years ago, where a clip on your finger measure electrical pulses (or something, don't remember technical details), and after about an hour of "training" people were able to control the mouse without moving, just thinking about it.
Or look at people who've had the corpus collosum severed, and are still able to function at some degree of normalcy with their brain literally cut in half.
Amazingly flexible machines, our brains. If only my software was as versatile as my wetware.
The enemies of Democracy are
Being a patient of corrective surgery for epilepsy twice, I decided to actually RTFA.
The article is about Japan placing electrodes directly onto the brain to pick up more accurate signals. This actually has no direct link to having computer controlled body parts; as the FTA says they have been using electrodes placed directly on the brain to pick up activity when one moves his or her arm.
Why is this old news? during my last round of epilepsy correction surgery, (in 2001) I went through surgery so they could place an electrode plate inside my skull in order to pick up right temporal and frontal lobe activity with the greatest accuracy. I can tell you it gave me the worst headache ever for the week or so they monitored me for seizure activity, but they immediately removed it once they decided the correct tissue to remove. Thankfully since then, it showed that the second time, not third, was the charm, for i'm off of seizure drugs without having seizure activity. And intelligence-wise, well, I still can write in assembly, and I read slashdot 3times a day. (that doesn't exactly show i'm intelligent though, not all slashdotters use their brains :-P)
As you can see, this article is BS. Wake me up when they are using electrodes to directly interface with and manage brain activity, none of this activity reading bullshit. Yes, i was in a bad mood previous to reading TFA. heh.
EndOfRant
Scientist in New York already developed a bigger better version
The aim of the research is to develop real-time mind-controlled robotic limbs for the disabled
Kind of like how the aim of P2P is to distribute Linux and other large FREE software, but we all know what the real purpose is - Mind Controlled Sex Devices!
+1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
GoogleEarth we'll be able to find JSA making cube shaped spacecraft?
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
No one thought of Ghost in the Shell. This a step in that direction. First get the machine into the brain. Then after refinements the brain/machine is taken out of the living body and put into a replacement robotic body.
... and you thought the Sony rootkit was evil when it was on music CDs.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Why are they doing cyborg research inside someone's skull? Don't they have buildings for this kind of thing?
On the upside, there's the vastly improved uptime...
I only post comments when someone on the internet is wrong.
So someone with a prosthetic as a result of this research might kick the person in front of them 20% of the time they move their leg?
www.purevolume.com/martyd
...or robot controlled minds?
In Soviet Russia, robotic limb controls mind!!!
/sorry, had to be said...
Wonder what one could do with one of such implants, and a wifi/bluetooth connection to the, well, whatever you would want to move (be lost limbs or maybe something else).
Is a bit more invasive than i.e. piercing, but could be the next big thing.
So, how long before I can plug a jack into head and control a giant mecha?
So what you're saying is, my brain could run Linux? And I wouldn't need any drivers? :O cool
which is totally what she said
"...analyzing the brain waves to determine the subject's intended activity to an accuracy of greater than 80%."
Is 80% really good enough? I'm reminded of an old joke about an artificial arm that had to be given verbal instructions through a microphone in the shoulder. A sad conclusion occurs over a misunderstanding of the words, "Bionic arm, whack it off."
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
What's with the 'robot' tag on this article? C'mon people this is slashdot we all know that should have been 'Cyborg'.
And where's the 'whatcouldpossiblygowrong' tag?
Pleeeease?
The Warrior's bland acronym, MMI, obscures the true horror of this monstrosity. Its inventors promise a new era of genius, but meanwhile unscrupulous power brokers use its forcible installation to violate the sanctity of unwilling human minds. They are creating their own private army of demons.
-- Commissioner Pravin Lal,
"Report on Human Rights"
I think, and my thoughts cross the barrier into the synapses of the machine, just as the good doctor intended. But what I cannot shake, and what hints at things to come, is that thoughts cross back. In my dreams, the sensibility of the machine invades the periphery of my consciousness: dark, rigid, cold, alien. Evolution is at work here, but just what is evolving remains to be seen.
-- Commissioner Pravin Lal
"Man and Machine"
(eh, I always preferred the University anyway)
Repton.
They say that only an experienced wizard can do the tengu shuffle.
So what's the real reason for all this research ?
DUH! They want real mechas. Voltron FTW!
Seriously, who needs nukes when you can control giant death bots with your brainwaves ? It's like every bad westernized anime plot, and frankly I think it's a bit too much. That, or I don't trust the Japanese... smart is fine, and depraved can be fun, but both smart and depraved is a dangerous combination.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
just think on the potential market of prostetic furry tails controlled directly by the brain on japan :3
I'm looking forward to the day when I'm defending my family against the marauding hordes of cyborg killers of my anime dreams.
We are the Borg. You will service us.
Everyone knows that the best neurosurgeons operate in Chiba...
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