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

I think this has great potential and here is why.

[Brigadier]

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

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

[CogDissident]

And this method has other uses. Such as giving people limbs they never had.
Military grant for a soldier with a 3rd arm for a minigun anyone? Anyone at all?

Actually, it's a good point.

[porcupine8]

The article linked to doesn't go into whether/how much they've looked at thoughts about movement with no movement intended. Recent research has shown that when you're thinking about doing an activity, the same motor neurons light up as when you actually do it. Even watching someone else do the activity has an effect.

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.

OUT OF DATE

[nawcom]

Wow, this is so out of date it's not even funny.

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

Re:OUT OF DATE

[nawcom]

Well, it was only 2, I apologize if the strange reference to "third time is a charm" was a little confusing.

The first time was when I was 11, and the surgeon ended up not removing enough (this was at Children's Hospital of Detroit), because I started having seizures 5 years later. So at 17, I went to the Cleveland Clinic and I had the rest of the area taken out, along with a miniscule amount of the right frontal lobe taken out. The only permanent effect I still have is that I have no "right" peripheral vision in both of my eyes. Which isn't really that severe. Any other problems I had, like fear recognition (linked to the amygdala, which was partially removed), hunger, and such were short term, and were expected.

If you are curious about how this stuff works, its an interesting read. http://professionals.epilepsy.com/page/surgery_cortical.html

The second surgery was also a reason why I decided to give up on religion, but that is a whole other story by itself. Let's just say that as an 11 year old child, I put my faith in a God to stop fear and pain. As a 17 year old teenager, I gave up on that God, and put the faith in myself, and it worked. Yeah, it might sound a little simplistic, and maybe surgeons knew more than before, but that kind of logic is the same kind that religions use to function, and that exact logic was what showed me that gods don't exist.

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

[Anonymous Coward]

Your idea is being pursued in other lines of research. Medically, it's better to be less invasive, and technically you want the best control signal. Using the peripheral nerves is advantageous on both fronts. However, it does no good for those patients who have spinal trauma and don't have functioning peripheral nerves. Then you need to learn how to use central signals to control the prosthesis.