(July 7, 2012) Robot
avatars have got a step closer to being the real world doubles of those who are
paralysed or have locked-in-syndrome.
Scientists
have made a robot move on a human's behalf by monitoring thoughts about
movement, reports New Scientist.
The
man-machine link joined a man in a brain scanner in Israel and a robot
wandering a laboratory in France.
The person
controlling the robot could also see through the eyes of his electronic
surrogate.
The
researchers are now working on ways to make the man-machine link more sensitive
and to let people speak via the robot.
Mirror test
The
research project connected a robot to a man having his brain scanned using fMRI
(Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging). This monitors blood flowing through
the brain and can spot when areas associated with certain actions, such as movement,
are in use.
Using brain
scanners is a step beyond current efforts to link up men and machines. Much
recent work involved teleoperated robots in which humans manipulate controls,
such as joysticks, to make a robot move.
By
contrast, the scanning approach is more subtle and attempts to fool the human
subject into thinking that they are embodied in the robot.
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