Mind controlled robot
Opening a car trunk or controlling a home air conditioner with only the mind is just a wish away with new technology that connects thoughts inside a brain with robotics.
Honda Motor Co has developed a way to read patterns of electric currents on a person’s scalp as well as changes in cerebral blood flow when a person thinks about four simple movements – moving the right hand, moving the left hand, running and eating.
The analysed thought patterns are then being relayed as wireless commands for Asimo, its human-shaped robot.
In a video shown at Tokyo headquarters, a person wearing a helmet sat still but thought about moving his right hand – a thought that was picked up by cords attached to his head inside a helmet- like device. After several seconds, Asimo, programmed to respond to brain signals, lifted its right arm.
The company, a leader in robotics, acknowledged the technology was still at a basic research stage with no immediate practical applications in the works.
“I’m talking about dreams today,” said Yasuhisa Arai, an executive at the company’s research unit. “Practical uses are still way into the future.” Japan boasts one of the leading robotics industries in the world, and the government is pushing to develop the industry as a road to growth.
Among the challenges for the brain technology is to make the reading-device smaller so it can be portable . Arai didn’t rule out the possibility of a car that may someday drive itself .
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