DailyDirt: Brain-Controlled Robots... And Vice Versa?

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Thu, Jun 4th 2015 5:00pm — Michael Ho

The general population might not be ready for brain implants for mind-controlled robots, but research on brain interfaces could eliminate the invasive surgery requirements for interacting directly with brain activity -- and then everyone might be able to test drive their own thought-controlled robots. Becoming a cyborg might not appeal to everyone, but remote controlled robots that are easy to operate might be a cool toy.

Next-generation prosthetic limbs will be controlled by a user's thoughts. Some amputees are already testing prosthetic hands and limbs, and a few patients have reported being able to feel texture using devices that interface with remapped nerves. Modular Prosthetic Limbs (MPLs) have a long term goal of not requiring any surgeries or implants to control a dexterous robot, and the price tags will also need to come down from the half million dollar cost of the prototypes. [url]
Mind-reading robots can help paralyzed patients interact with common objects more easily. Robot arms are getting much better, but the interface still requires a brain implant. [url]
A startup called Thync is working on a wearable device that could control your mood using electronic signals to cranial nerves. This brain interface uses transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) which has been tested for treating depression and other medical uses, but this wearable would be used like an electrical replacement for caffeine or alcohol. [url]

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Filed Under: brain, brain implant, cyborg, hmi, neural interface, prosthetic limbs, robots, tdcs, trans-cranial direct current stimulation, wearables

5 Comments

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Lawrence D’Oliveiro, 4 Jun 2015 @ 6:21pm

Ultimately, The Only Really Debilitating Injury ...
... will be damage to the brain. Any other body part will be replaceable, but any substitute for lost brain function will really be new function, not a copy of the old.
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Shadow Firebird, 4 Jun 2015 @ 10:56pm

I'm with Ian M Banks on this one
"Hi I'm from the future and we all have SHOP AT CYBERJOES FOR ALL YOUR NANO NEEDS implants now. It's brilliant."

I don't trust google etc with my phone. I'm supposed to trust someone with my *brain*? That'll end well.
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Stephen, 5 Jun 2015 @ 1:41am

Scary Stuff
A startup called Thync is working on a wearable device that could control your mood using electronic signals to cranial nerves.
Sounds chillingly Orwellian. Dick Cheney's torturers would have loved to have access to such a device to instil fear and terror into their victims.

And places like North Korea would doubtless have uses for it too.
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Sl8ofHand, 5 Jun 2015 @ 5:40am

All technologies are misused...
Any technology can, and will, be misused by those in a position to do so for their own gain...it is a condition exacerbated by the capitalistic system in which we've trapped ourselves.
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TotteringTim, 5 Jun 2015 @ 9:05am

A less skeptical view
I'm not such a huge fan of machines controlling the mind (as in Thync which was mentioned in the article). But I do think there is some value in other biofeedback devices - not only for prosthesis control. For instance biofeedback can accelerate and enhance the benefits of 'mindfulness meditation'.
I don't know about the blood pressure monitors like Heartmath but consumer grade EEG's are coming along quickly. There is the Muse, Neurosky (dirt cheap), and Emotiv which has advanced capabilities (see the TED talk by the CEO).
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