Modifying the human body or enhancing our cognitive abilities using technology has been a long-time dream for many people. Nano-bio-info-cogno-synbio (NBICS) is now reaching a critical stage where it could lead to the fulfillment of that dream.
An increasing amount of research tries to link the human brain with machines allowing humans to control their environment through their thoughts. It is said: "Ultimately the technology will be used for people whose spinal cords are destroyed in accidents or those handicapped by strokes." (1)
Scientists demonstrated in 2002 that human thoughts can be converted into radio waves and used by paralyzed people to create movement. (1) "Scientists in Australia have developed a mind switch that enables people to activate electrical devices (e.g. turn on a radio or open doors) by thinking."
The IDIAP Research Institute (formerly the Institute Dalle Molle d'Intelligence Artificielle Perceptive/Dalle Molle Institute for Perceptual Artificial Intelligence) is developing non-invasive brain machine interfaces.
The Institute states in a recent publication: "Brain activity recorded non-invasively is sufficient to control a mobile robot if advanced robotics is used in combination with asynchronous EEG analysis and machine learning techniques. Until now brain-actuated control has mainly relied on implanted electrodes, since EEG-based systems have been considered too slow for controlling rapid and complex sequences of movements. We show that two human subjects successfully moved a robot between several rooms by mental control only, using an EEG-based brain-machine interface that recognized three mental states. Mental control was comparable to manual control on the same task with a performance ratio of 0.74."
Many researchers are working on brain machine interfaces.
Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems, Inc. of Foxborough, Massachusetts, received FDA approval to test the "Brain Gate." The company started with people with spinal cord injuries and is now recruiting patients for BrainGate ALS trials, according to deal.com.
Researchers at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, are developing a wireless neuroprosthetic that could potentially be used to control robotic limbs for quadriplegics. Dr. Miguel Nicolelis of the university's Department of Neurobiology has a variety of articles on his webpage. A 14 year-old boy plays space invaders using thoughts alone, as a grid connected to his brain measures his electrocortigraphic activity.
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