/ News
Researchers study how to use mind-controlled robots in manufacturing, medicine (w/ Video)
Worried that machines will someday control the human race? If so, relax.
Researchers at the University at Buffalo and elsewhere are helping to advance technology that allows people to control robots with their minds. UB isn't focused on world domination, but rather applying these brain-computer interface (BCI) devices to manufacturing, medicine and other fields.
"The technology has practical applications that we're only beginning to explore," said Thenkurussi "Kesh" Kesavadas, PhD, UB professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and director of UB's Virtual Reality Laboratory. "For example, it could help paraplegic patients to control assistive devices, or it could help factory workers perform advanced manufacturing tasks."
While it sounds like something from X-Men and other science fiction stories, BCI technology has been available to the public for a few years. Devices range from relatively inexpensive novelty items to sophisticated instruments that sell for tens of thousands of dollars.
Products vary but they generally include a helmet equipped with many sensors. The sensors read electrical signals – electroencephalograms – from brain activity and transmit them wirelessly to a computer. The computer then sends signals to the robot to control the robot's movement.
Thus far, most research has involved more expensive BCI devices that, unlike what's described above, are inserted into the brain. They have been used mostly to help disabled people.
UB research differs because it relies on a relatively inexpensive, non-invasive instrument (it retails for $750) that fits on the head like a hat and is outfitted with only 14 sensors.
Kesavadas recently demonstrated the technology with Pramod Chembrammel, a doctoral student in his lab. Chembrammel, who trained with the instrument for a few days, used the device to control a robotic arm. He used the arm to insert a wood peg into a hole and rotate the peg.
"It was incredible to see the robot respond to my thoughts," Chembrammel said. "On top of that, it wasn't even that difficult to learn how to use the device."
The video shows that a simple set of instructions can be combined to execute more complex robotic actions, Kesavadas said. Such robots could be used by factory workers to perform hands-free assembly of products, or carry out tasks like drilling or welding.
The potential advantage, Kesavadas said, is that BCI-controlled devices could reduce the tedium of repetitious tasks and improve worker safety and productivity. The devices can also leverage the worker's decision-making skills, such as identifying a faulty part in an automated assembly line.
Kesavadas, a leader in developing virtual reality tools, plans to continue studying BCI technology. The research could lead to the first, extensive instructional guides for using BCI-controlled devices.
Source: http://phys.org/news/2013-11-mind-controlled-robots-medicine-video.html
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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”.
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