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Next up in robot suits for the paralyzed: Mind control?
Researchers are looking to push robotic exoskeletons into the realm of thought control, eliminating the need for hand controls and reaching those unable to use their upper bodies.
What if people who are paralyzed could use their brainwaves to get up out of wheelchairs and walk away? That's exactly what researchers from the University of Houston are hoping to accomplish with the latest evolution of robotic exoskeletons. They're turning to mind control to move these high-tech mobility machines to the next level -- and take patients with them.
The idea for for a mind-controlled robotic exoskeleton came to engineering professor Jose Contreras-Vidal, the project's lead, after Duke University's Miguel Nicolelis demonstrated that electrode arrays implanted in monkey brains could pick up on the neuron-firing patterns that occur when the monkey thinks about walking.
"Contreras-Vidal's group found out they could get the same effects using EEG (electroencephalography) to control an exoskeleton. EEG doesn't have the spatial resolution of an implanted electrode array, but it is noninvasive and has the added benefit of being able to measure electrical activity across the entire brain," Popular Mechanics reported.
The team created NeuroRex by modifying a Rex Bionics exoskeleton with an EEG cap that reads the brain's electrical activity.
To operate the Rex, users must have adequate body strength and functionality to transfer themselves from their wheelchair into the exoskeleton by holding on to Rex's legs. They then strap themselves in and use a hand-controlled joystick and control pad to maneuver the battery-powered mobility-assist device on solid, stable surfaces. NeuroRex aims to eliminate the need for hand controls, simply letting users, including those paralyzed from the neck down, maneuver using mental directions.
To use the NeuroRex, "the patient thinks an instruction, such as 'turn left.' The EEG electrodes pick up on the specific pattern of brain activity associated with that command and wirelessly sends the information to a computer, which interprets the data and relays a corresponding instruction to the patient's robotic legs," Popular Mechanics explained.
Clinical trials of the NeuroRex are set to begin in January, and "if all goes well, it will be on its way to becoming the first thought-controlled exoskeleton," according to the publication.
Richard Little, one of the developers of the legs, which form the basis of the NeuroRex. (Credit: Rex Bionics)
While the NeuroRex exoskeleton has promising mind-controlled applications for those paralyzed from spinal cord injuries, patients will still need to undergo rigorous training before they will be able to abandon their wheelchairs.
"NeuroRex has been tested in two people with spinal cord injury, and the upcoming study will broaden that number to about 25," Popular Mechanics reported.
"Training begins with a 5-minute session wherein the user thinks about a set of instructions, such as 'move forward' or 'turn right.' The EEG reads those patterns and learns to recognize them. Although the user can operate the robot for just a few minutes, the human-machine interface is refined over several months of training."
While NeuroRex is testing the boundaries of mind over matter, other exoskeletons already rely on motors and sensors to get patients walking again.
These mobility machines include the ReWalk from Israel's Argo Medical Technologies; suits from Rex Bionics out of New Zealand; eLegs from Berkeley Bionics; the Indego Exoskeleton, created by researchers at Vanderbilt University and engineers at Parker Hannifin; and the Ekso, from Ekso Bionics.
Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57613106-1/next-up-in-robot-suits-for-the-paralyzed-mind-control/
/ About us
Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.