'Mind control' tech lets you control robots just by thinking about it

An easy-to-learn brain-computer interface holds great promise for helping people paralyzed by accidents or those who are unable to speak after suffering a stroke or neurodegenerative condition.

 

Researchers from the University of Washington said the system uses small electrodes placed on or inside the brain that let patients control robotic limbs just by thinking about the actions.

 

"(When using this technology), the brain behaves much like it does when completing simple motor skills such as kicking a ball, typing or waving a hand. Learning to control a robotic arm or a prosthetic limb could become second nature for people who are paralyzed," the university said.

Help for disabled
 

Such a technology could "improve communication and daily life for a person who is paralyzed or has lost the ability to speak from a stroke or neurodegenerative disease," it added.

 

Rajesh Rao, a UW professor of computer science and engineering and a senior researcher involved in the study, said that while the brain may exert much effort to learn at the start, doing the action may become virtually effortless later on.

 

“What we’re seeing is that practice makes perfect with these tasks,” said Rao, who with collaborators neurological surgery professor Jeffrey Ojemann and bioengineering doctoral student Jeremiah Wander published their results online June 10 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

 

First time for humans

 

Although researchers in the past have succeeded in using brain-computer interfaces in monkeys and humans, this is the first study that maps neurological signals throughout the brain, UW said.

 

It noted the researchers were surprised at how many parts of the brain were involved.

 

“We now have a larger-scale view of what’s happening in the brain of a subject as he or she is learning a task. The surprising result is that even though only a very localized population of cells is used in the brain-computer interface, the brain recruits many other areas that aren’t directly involved to get the job done,” Rao said.

 

UW method

 

The UW team placed electrodes on the surface of the brain, underneath the skull, letting researchers record brain signals at higher frequencies and with less interference than measurements from the scalp.

 

Potentially, a future wireless device could be built to remain inside a person’s head for a longer time to control computer cursors or robotic limbs at home.

 

“This is one push as to how we can improve the devices and make them more useful to people. If we have an understanding of how someone learns to use these devices, we can build them to respond accordingly,” Wander said.

 

The research team and the UW-based National Science Foundation’s Engineering Research Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering will continue developing these technologies.

 

UW said the research was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the NSF, the Army Research Office and the Keck Foundation.

 

Moving cursor

 

In their study, the researchers observed seven people with severe epilepsy. Physicians inserted a thin sheet of electrodes directly on top of the brain.

 

The patients were asked to move a mouse cursor on a computer screen using only their thoughts.

 

Electrodes on the patients' brains picked up the brain signals, relayed them to an amplifier and then sent the signals to a laptop for analysis.

 

"Within 40 milliseconds, the computer calculated the intentions transmitted through the signal and updated the movement of the cursor on the screen," UW said.

 

Researchers learned that at the start of the task, much brain activity was centered in the prefrontal cortex, an area associated with learning a new skill.

 

But after as little as 10 minutes, this frontal brain activity lessened, and the brain signals transitioned to patterns similar to those seen during more automatic actions.

 

“Now we have a brain marker that shows a patient has actually learned a task. Once the signal has turned off, you can assume the person has learned it,” Ojemann said.

 

Present technologies

 

UW noted there are now many brain-computer interfaces being developed and tested, with the least invasive being a device on a person’s head that can detect weak electrical brain signatures.

 

But while there are now some commercial gaming products using this technology, they are not quite reliable due to interference from eye blinking and other muscle movements.

 

On the other hand, there is a more invasive method - surgically placing electrodes directly in the brain tissue to record the activity of neurons.

 

"Researchers at Brown University and the University of Pittsburgh have demonstrated this in humans as patients, unable to move their arms or legs, have learned to control robotic arms using the signal directly from their brain," UW said. — TJD, GMA News