Monkeys move virtual arm with their minds


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Remember the hit movie Avatar, where the human brain alone could control a lifelike hybrid body, seeing what it sees and feeling what it feels?

Scientists at Duke University are one step closer to making that concept a reality, with important applications for medicine. They have developed a system through which a monkey can control a virtual arm with its brain and also feel sensations from the appendage.

The ultimate goal is to build a robotic body suit controlled entirely by brain activity, which will provide tactile feedback to the wearer, says Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, study co-author and neuroscientist at Duke University. This could potentially enable quadriplegic individuals and people with locked-in syndrome to move, walk and feel textures with robotic hands and feet.

"In essence, we are going to provide a new body to these patients," Nicolelis said. "It’s almost like a whole-body vest, but the vest is going to carry the patient’s body."

The new study, published in the journal Nature, represents a milestone in brain-machine interfaces in that it demonstrates that it's possible for the brain to decode motor signals and also receive sensory feedback, said Sliman Bensmaia, assistant professor at the University of Chicago, who was not involved in this research.

The experiment involved implanting hairlike filaments that act as sensors into the brain, about 3 to 4 millimeters deep. In monkeys, these implants have been shown to work for seven years without any complications, suggesting they are safe to use in humans, Nicolelis said.

In this brain-machine-brain-interface, signals from the animal's brain were sent to the avatar arm, and then a feedback signal was sent back to the brain of the animal.

The monkeys saw the avatar arm and three targets that appeared visually identical, but had different associated textures that could be felt with the virtual hand. A signal sent to their brains indicated a texture, which the monkeys used to determine the corresponding target. Using only their minds, they directed the virtual arm to differentiate targets according to their texture. One monkey got the tasks right more than 85% of the time, the other more than 60%.

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No problem - DARPA (the DoD's mad science lab) is neck deep in developing limb and tissue regeneration technologies for battlefield wounds, and that will bleed over into mainstream use. Lose a leg or arm - grow a new one.

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^ Spiritually, you are already 'Immortal'.

That's an opinion.

And I would never want to have machine parts attached to me.

Even if it meant life or death? Or hell, just the guarantee of life.

I wouldn't turn down a pacemaker, for example. But even beyond "need",

if my leg has to be amputated, or was taken in an accident, I wouldn't turn

down a replacement leg to make getting around easier.

Actually, here's something I wrote last year:

http://richardmccord.com/opinions/the-bionic-man/

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