Slashdot Mirror
Paralyzed Patients Control Robot With Brain Waves
sciencehabit writes with a writeup of a French research paper in Science. From the article: "They're not quite psychic yet, but machines are getting better at reading your mind. Researchers have invented a new, noninvasive method for recording patterns of brain activity and using them to steer a robot. Scientists hope the technology will give 'locked in' patients ... the ability to interact with others and even give the illusion of being physically present ... with friends and family."
The really interesting thing here is that people who had not used their limbs in years were able to learn how to control the robot (as well as the control group did) after being trained only an hour a week for six weeks.
It might make a pretty good lie detector.
Yo dawg, I heard you like the Ackermann function, so OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD
Sounds like episode 23 of Cowboy Bebop "Brain Scratch"
I suppose we'll have to wait for Davros for proper integration!
Off-topic but I have read it as Paralyzing Patents at first. Then I thought: Cool technology, but how long it is going to take to clear the legal fences so it could really help some people in need.
Being able to control an avatar is a great step, but it's not too hard to imagine coupling this with one of Kamen's iBOT vehicles to allow these people to regain some mobility. Throw some grappling arms on there and the person might even gain a bit of independence.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
"Paralyzed Patients Control Robot With Brain Waves..."
XKCD:Xeric Knowledge Comically Dispen
Unless they've managed to keep him alive this long.
Solaria here we come!
PS: I don't reply to ACs.
There's a project on Kickstarter about this right now, using Rovio robots and an EMOTIV headset. It's always interesting to see some form of new technology being worked on in a few places simultaneously - usually means something is about to hit big. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robots/robodance-5-telepresence-robotics-for-all-esp-the
There is no reason for them to be connected to this only 1 hour a day. Perhaps if the patients were connected to their avatars continuously for two or three days, they would quickly grow accustomed to it through personal experimentation in much the same way that self-taught programmers train themselves in a new language. I think that if they are self-taught for controlling the avatar that they might be much more efficient at it.
But now I can play a live version of Suspended. Now we just have to figure out the cryogenically freezing someone without killing them bit.
Should I be worried that their lawyers demand that such controls be installed on us, the unparalyzed?
And he learned to identify them.
These days a cochlear implant would probably fix that.
1. The paper was in English and it was from a lab in Switzerland. Switzerland has French as an official language, but other than that there was nothing French about this. (I'm pretty sure that lab operates in English). 2. You have to train the computer to recognize certain patterns of brainwaves and train the user to make those brainwaves when they wish to do a certain function. Therefore this is not capable of mind reading unless you train the computer to recognize and distinguish between the brain-waves associated with every thought (or thought-fragment) the participant might ever have. People are working on this (sorry, I don't know how to do html tags). http://www.npr.org/2011/05/12/135598390/mind-reading-technology-turns-thought-into-action 3. You should conceptually dissociate the brain-waves from the robot. The voluntary modulation of brain waves can be used to control anything, if that thing can accept (up to 3-d, currently) analog input. One application is a robot. I've seen this used to control robotic arms, wheelchairs, videogames (pong, space invaders, doom), lighting, movies, toys, just about anything you can do with a joystick. Really, all they are doing here is creating a virtual joystick in the computer and having that virtual joystick control the robot. 4. Brain control is currently very slow. When the application has intelligence, then the amount that you can accomplish with the relatively slow brainwave input increases as you relinquish control from the participant to the robot AI. For example, it takes a lot less effort to tell a robot you are thirsty and have the robot move to the fridge, open the fridge, retrieve a beer, close the fridge, open the beer, poor it into a glass, put a straw in the glass, bring the glass to you, and put the straw in your mouth (I skipped a lot of steps) than it is to have the user mentally control the robot while it does all of those tasks. But then what happens when the robot can't find the straws? The same is true if you have a joystick with a 'thirsty' button or if you have a joystick that operates every movement of the robot. 5. The brain isn't really designed for smooth continuous movements. A lot of that comes from other parts of the nervous system, like the brainstem, the cerebellum, and the spinal cord. Intelligent robots might not need smooth continuous input. However, your dreams of nimbly controlling an exoskeleton in outer-space battles might require more than having electrodes in a cap on the outside of your head, it will likely require electrodes inside your head, spine, brainstem or some other amazing technology that doesn't yet exist.
http://futurama.wikia.com/index.php?title=A_Head_in_the_Polls&image=AHeadinthePolls-png ...the static picture doesn't do it justice, though.
José (yes I know him) is Spanish and works at the EPFL in Switzerland.
The future of telecommute is here! I'm a _great_ multitasker, I can work 3 jobs at once!
This guy needs to be in the study.
Robot paralyze you!
This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.
What happen when a paralyzed patient want to kick some brat in the nuts because he's a bit too annoying?
just do borg like assimilation to get the info
Have gnu, will travel.
I want to hear about the patients who have been training 8 hours a day for 6 weeks. Do they have something better to do?
for a patent to stifle all that simultaneous innovation. Since we all know innovation belongs only to those who hold some crummy shit of paper from the Patent Office.
I know if I was "locked in" I would be pretty pissed off at all kinds of people for not helping me and/or mocking me. not to mention the frustration of not being able to control your body.
The current state of implantable neurotechnology is far more advanced than this story. The good stuff is not in the public sphere at all. Total remote control of the human mind and body via wireless link is where the real neurotechnology is at now. It's being deployed against unwitting subjects without their knowledge or consent. For more information check out this research material: http://www.google.com/search?q=%22covert+implantation+of+radiotelepathy%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
said the robot.
I'm holding out until I can be inserted into one of these bad boys upon death.
It'll require a reincarnation after he blows up the Earth destroying asteroid, but don't worry. After this spreads from the shut-ins to everyone using it, Bruce will be there to bring the network down and force everyone to come out of their house and talk to their neighbors.
Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba