In any experiment reported, monkeys were able to convert their
intelligent thought process into controlling a mechanical
arm.
Such a success in research of the though process of the brain to
influence the mechanical motion of a device will hold tremendous
implication in the field of military weaponry and artificial
platforms.
Monkeys able
to control robotic arm using brain impulses:
study
DURHAM, North Carolina : US researchers have taught monkeys to
control a robot arm using brain impulses in an experiment that
could have far-reaching implications for the rehabilitation of
people who have suffered brain or nerve damage.
Researchers at Duke University implanted micro-electrodes into the
brains of two rhesus monkeys, allowing them to control a robotic
arm to play a videogame using only signals from their brains and
visual feedback on a video screen.
"(The monkey) got it that he could think about how to solve the
video game, produce the pattern of brain activity that our
mathematical models could understand and interact with a robot and
solve the maze that you needed to solve," said Dr Miguel Nicolelis
of Duke University Medical Center.
The researchers hope the technology could be developed for
analysing brain signals and could improve the rehabilitation of
people with brain and spinal cord damage from strokes, diseases or
trauma.
"You can bypass damaged parts of the brain and extract all the
information you need to control human movement. These brain-machine
interfaces hold enormous promise for restoring function to
paralyzed people," Dr Nicolelis said.
In their experiments, the researchers first implanted an array of
micro-electrodes into the frontal and parietal lobes of the brains
of two rhesus macaque monkeys.
A computer recorded and analysed the brain activity of the monkeys
as they were taught to use a joystick to play a videogame that
required them to hit a target on-screen.
Out of sight of the animals, the joystick was in fact hooked up to
a
robotic arm, complete with sensors, which controlled the computer
cursor.
The scientists then removed the joystick, after which the monkeys
continued to move their arms in mid-air to "manipulate" the cursor,
thus controlling the robot arm.
But after only a few days of playing with the robot in this way,
the monkeys suddenly realised that they did not need to move their
arms at all. - CNA