Move it with your mind

How amazing would it be to simply think a command and have a robot respond?

It’s already happening.

Researchers at the Institute for Perceptual Artificial Intelligence in Switzerland have found a way to control a simple robot by monitoring brain waves through a special skullcap.

They are hoping to apply this breakthrough to wheelchairs, so that severely disabled people who cannot operate hand controls will be able to direct the wheelchair with their minds.

So far the skullcap and custom-made computer software can only interpret three commands and is trained to respond to the wearer’s particular brainwaves.

Each command thought produces a particular pattern of brainwaves that the computer interprets then passes on to the robot.

Though it is still in its early stages, the robot is already smart enough to detect obstacles. That means that if you tell it to turn left before reaching a corner it will wait for the next opportunity to turn instead of crashing into a wall.

www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993967