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%.'"

Comments

Surely there's an easier way...?

[TripMaster Monkey]

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...

Re:Surely there's an easier way...?

[Anonymous Coward]

But how then will they create that jack in the back of your neck that connects you to the internet

Re:Surely there's an easier way...?

[wizardforce]

how exactly would that help people whose nerve connections between their limbs and their brain have been severed? that is a lot of the reason why cybernetics/prosthetics are being researched after all.

I for one

[hansraj]

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.

Obligatory Matrix Quote

[blcamp]

"This will feel... a little weird."

This reminds me of Ghost in the Shell

[Anonymous Coward]

He's engaging my vocal function .... and is now inside.

Re:I think this has great potential and here is wh

[Chris Burke]

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.

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. :P

Re:Actually, it's a good point.

[Spy der Mann]

That was my first thought:
tests subjects first dream where the wrestle a bear, upon waking discovers his robotic arms have torn his pillows to shreds!

And this is why our brain produces chemicals to actually inhibit our body's muscles during sleep.

Japanese open-skull implants ...

[damn_registrars]

... and you thought the Sony rootkit was evil when it was on music CDs.

Re:surprised

[somersault]

Who said we didn't think about it? It's just a bit of a cliche now, even if it is awesome :P This is nowhere near Ghost in the Shell level diving and prosthetic control though, we're still in baby steps. It shouldn't really be that difficult to do because our sensory and motor sections of the brain are basically at the very surface on the top left and top right of the brains as far as I remember from my psychology classes.. just needs people gutsy enough to undergo more procedures like this and some appropriately knowledgeable bio-scientists and robotics geeks to develop something that is going to provide a high enough level of accuracy in mapping everything out. And hopefully being reliable enough not to make you lose all control of your body, crap yourself, and feel like you're getting repeatedly stabbed in the eyes by trees.