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lifted from the cogsci community
Oct. 13th, 2003 10:59 amIn Pioneering Study, Monkey Think, Robot Do
In experiments at Duke University, implants in the monkeys' brains picked up brain signals and sent them to a robotic arm, which carried out reaching and grasping movements on a computer screen driven only by the monkeys' thoughts.
[...] Dr. Nicolelis implanted tiny probes called microwires into several brain regions of two rhesus monkeys. At first, each monkey learned to move a joystick that controlled a cursor on a computer screen. When a ball appeared, the animal had to move the cursor to the target to earn a drink of juice. Researchers collected electrical patterns from the monkey's brain as it performed the tasks.
After the monkey became skilled at the exercise, the scientists disconnected the joystick. At first, the monkey jiggled the stick and stared at the screen, Dr. Nicolelis said. Even though the joystick was not working, the monkey's reaching and grasping motor plans were being sent to a computer, which translated those signals into movements on screen.
There was an "incredible moment" when the monkey realized that it could guide the cursor and grasp an object on the screen just by thinking it, Dr. Nicolelis said. The arm dropped. Muscles no longer contracted.
The final step was to divert brain signals to a computer model that controlled the movements of a robot. The monkey continued to think the movements but in doing so it now moved the robot arm directly, without a joystick, which in turn directed movements of the cursor.
In experiments at Duke University, implants in the monkeys' brains picked up brain signals and sent them to a robotic arm, which carried out reaching and grasping movements on a computer screen driven only by the monkeys' thoughts.
[...] Dr. Nicolelis implanted tiny probes called microwires into several brain regions of two rhesus monkeys. At first, each monkey learned to move a joystick that controlled a cursor on a computer screen. When a ball appeared, the animal had to move the cursor to the target to earn a drink of juice. Researchers collected electrical patterns from the monkey's brain as it performed the tasks.
After the monkey became skilled at the exercise, the scientists disconnected the joystick. At first, the monkey jiggled the stick and stared at the screen, Dr. Nicolelis said. Even though the joystick was not working, the monkey's reaching and grasping motor plans were being sent to a computer, which translated those signals into movements on screen.
There was an "incredible moment" when the monkey realized that it could guide the cursor and grasp an object on the screen just by thinking it, Dr. Nicolelis said. The arm dropped. Muscles no longer contracted.
The final step was to divert brain signals to a computer model that controlled the movements of a robot. The monkey continued to think the movements but in doing so it now moved the robot arm directly, without a joystick, which in turn directed movements of the cursor.