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

Like everything in Japan

[zedlander]

I give it about 2 months until they come up with a gameshow using the new technology.

So around 20% of the time

[The_Angry_Canadian]

If you think you would definitely slap that ass, your limb will actually do it. Woops.

Sweet!

[SailorSpork]

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?

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

[Missing_dc]

"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..."

I was a little more focused on the "greater than 80% accuracy bit" especially with the potential strength enhancements...

Nothing like playing Japanese roulette when you shake the leftover urine from your plumbing.

" OH GOD, NOT AGAIN!!"

unless of course you could get a fully functional replacement for it.

"hey baby, you up for a little interactive machine love?"

On the other hand, it would probably run linux.

OUT OF DATE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Wow, this is so out of date it's not even funny.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...?

[m.ducharme]

"This is my rifle, and this is my gun. One is for fighting, the other's for...oh wait."