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By Katia Moskvitch Technology reporter, BBC News
The inner workings of the brain can now be read using low cost hardware
You don't have to be a Jedi to make things move with your mind.
Granted, we may not be able to lift a spaceship out of a swamp like Yoda does
in The Empire Strikes Back, but it is possible to steer a model car, drive a
wheelchair and control a robotic exoskeleton with just your thoughts.
"The first thing is to clear your mind to think of nothing," says Ed Jellard; a
young man with the quirky title of senior inventor.
We are standing in a testing room at IBM's Emerging Technologies lab in
Winchester, England.
On my head is a strange headset that looks like a black plastic squid. Its 14
tendrils, each capped with a moistened electrode, are supposed to detect
specific brain signals.
In front of us is a computer screen, displaying an image of a floating cube.
As I think about pushing it, the cube responds by drifting into the distance.
Admittedly, the system needed a fair bit of pre-training to achieve this single
task. But it has, nonetheless, learned to associate a specific thought pattern
with a particular movement.
The headset, which was developed by Australian company Emotiv for the games
industry, has been around for some time. But it is only now that companies such
as IBM are beginning to harness the wealth of data that it can provide.
Using software developed in-house, researchers have linked the Emotiv to
devices such as a model car, a light switch and a television.
Control signals come from two main sources; electroencephalography (EEG)
measurements of brain activity, and readings of nerve impulses as they travel
outwards to the muscles.
MindSet headset There is now a variety of brainwave-reading headsets on the
market, mostly used for video gaming
Restoring movement
New techniques for processing such information are enabling sophisticated real
world applications.
Already the team has used the system to help a patient with locked-in syndrome,
whose healthy, active mind became trapped in a motionless body following a
stroke.
Start Quote
We linked the headset to the IBM middleware, and when he pushed the cube on the
screen, that behaved like a click of the mouse
Kevin Brown IBM
"We linked the headset to the IBM middleware, and when he pushed the cube on
the screen, that behaved like a click of the mouse - so he was able to use the
computer," explained IBM's Kevin Brown.
Many commercial mind control technologies are designed to restore physical
ability to those who have lost it.
At Switzerland's Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), researchers
have applied brain-computer interface technology to create thought-controlled
wheelchairs and telepresence robots.
"A disabled patient who can't move can instead navigate such a robot around his
house to participate in the social life of the family," explains the team
leader, Professor Jose del Millan.
"To do that, a helmet detects the intention of some physical movement and
translates it into action."
Prof. Sankai, CYBERDYNE, Inc./Univ. of Tsukuba Brain-controlled Cyberdyne's Hal
suit allows disabled patients to walk again
Japanese company Cyberdyne is helping people who cannot walk to regain mobility
by dressing them in a full-body robotic suit called Hal.
Just as some of IBM's readings come from nerve impulses, rather than brain
waves, Cyberdyne uses tiny sensors on the limbs to measure the subject's
intention to move, even if the physical act is impossible.
Start Quote
A disabled patient who can't move can instead navigate such a robot around his
house to participate in the social life of the family
Prof Jose del Millan EPFL
The robot body responds by moving its arms or legs. Webcams and computer
screens enabling the user to pilot their machine and communicate with friends
and family through their proxy body.
Outside the healthcare field, another implementation, being developed by EPFL
in partnership with car maker Nissan, is an intelligent vehicle that can use
brainwave data.
Supported by numerous external sensors and cameras, brain wave sensors read
what the driver is planning to do next.
Having anticipated their intentions, the car takes over, eliminating the need
for tedious and time consuming physical movement.
For those who prefer pedal power, Toyota is working with Saatchi & Saatchi,
Parlee Cycles and DeepLocal to develop a bicycle which can shift gear based on
its rider's thoughts.
Prototype of an intelligent car In future, cars might be able to assist the
drivers by reading their brainwaves
Suits and microchips
Headsets and helmets offer cheap, easy-to-use ways of tapping into the mind.
But there are other, more invasive techniques being developed.
Start Quote
Imagine some kind of a wireless computer device in your head that you'll use
for mind control - what if people hacked into that
Prof Noel Sharkey University of Sheffield
At Brown Institute for Brain Science in the US, scientists are busy inserting
chips right into the human brain.
The technology, dubbed BrainGate, sends mental commands directly to a PC.
Subjects still have to be physically "plugged" into a computer via cables
coming out of their heads, in a setup reminiscent of the film The Matrix.
However, the team is now working on miniaturising the chips and making them
wireless.
BrainGate is developing ways of using the output to control a computer cursor,
on-screen keyboard, and even manipulate robotic arms.
After testing it on monkeys, the scientists have now started human trials. Lead
researcher Prof John Donoghue hopes that one day, his groundbreaking research
will help people with spinal cord injuries or locked-in syndrome to walk again
just by thinking of moving their limbs.
Cyclist, mind-controlled bicycle Mind controlled bikes would change gear at the
flick of a thought
Robot warriors?
But extracting information from the brain, be it by internal or external
sensors, is only part of the story.
Much of the current research effort is looking at how to efficiently process
and utilise the vast streams of data that the brain produces.
Turning analogue thoughts into digital information links human beings directly
to electronic information networks, such as the internet. The brain becomes
becomes yet another sensor to be analysed and interrogated.
And as techniques for crunching that output get more sophisticated, the
technology it drives will move beyond simple device control.
"People like data," said IBM's Ed Jellard. "So if you can see patterns of data,
the geekier people will be very interested to see what is going on in their
brain and how it is changing over time.
"I would be interest to know if my brain is getting stronger and if I have more
intense thoughts. Things like that could be useful."
Start Quote
If you can see patterns of data, the geekier people will be very interested to
see what is going on in their brain and how it is changing over time
Ed Jellard IBM
While it is possible to translate brain waves into machine processable data,
there remains something unique and special about those signals that rocket
around inside our skulls.
They are not the same as lasers in a fibre optic cable or electrons in a
microprocessor, and tapping the mind will raise philosophical and ethical
questions, according to Prof Noel Sharkey.
"Once the military get a hold of it, they will push it very hard," he explains.
"At the moment they are filling the airspace in Afghanistan with drones that
only one person can control - but if they get the helmets well enough
developed, they'll be able to control a number of planes or robot warriors
directly with their thoughts."
There are also questions about what form cyber crime would take in the age of
the wired mind?
"Imagine some kind of a wireless computer device in your head that you'll use
for mind control - what if people hacked into that, what could they do to you
and your property?," continues Prof Starkey.
"And what if you are forced to wear a device and someone controls you with his
thoughts, making you do things?..."
The possibilities, both positive and negative, are literally mind boggling.