Monkeys Control a Robot Arm With Their Thoughts
By BENEDICT CAREY
NYT
Two monkeys with tiny sensors in their brains have learned to control a prosthetic arm with only their thoughts, using it to reach for and grab food and even to adjust for the size and stickiness of morsels when necessary, scientists reported Wednesday.
The report, released online by the journal Nature, is the most striking demonstration to date of brain-machine interface technology, which scientists expect will eventually allow people with spinal cord injuries and other paralyzing conditions to gain more control over their lives. The findings suggest that brain-controlled prosthetics, while not yet practical, are at least technically within reach.
In previous studies, researchers showed that humans who had been paralyzed for years could learn to control a cursor on a computer screen with their brain waves; and that thoughts could move a mechanical arm, and even a robot on a treadmill.
Yet the new experiment demonstrates how quickly the brain can adopt a mechanical appendage as its own, refining movement as it interacts with real objects in real time. The monkeys in the experiment had their own arms gently restrained while they were learning to use the prosthetic one.
(Continued here.)
NYT
Two monkeys with tiny sensors in their brains have learned to control a prosthetic arm with only their thoughts, using it to reach for and grab food and even to adjust for the size and stickiness of morsels when necessary, scientists reported Wednesday.
The report, released online by the journal Nature, is the most striking demonstration to date of brain-machine interface technology, which scientists expect will eventually allow people with spinal cord injuries and other paralyzing conditions to gain more control over their lives. The findings suggest that brain-controlled prosthetics, while not yet practical, are at least technically within reach.
In previous studies, researchers showed that humans who had been paralyzed for years could learn to control a cursor on a computer screen with their brain waves; and that thoughts could move a mechanical arm, and even a robot on a treadmill.
Yet the new experiment demonstrates how quickly the brain can adopt a mechanical appendage as its own, refining movement as it interacts with real objects in real time. The monkeys in the experiment had their own arms gently restrained while they were learning to use the prosthetic one.
(Continued here.)
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