The end of this year's spectacular findings increasingly appear in front of the eyes, researchers from the University of Minnesota have made control of the robot arm with the mind. This great breakthrough enables the development of other parts of the robot using only the mind, working like the shadow of the controller. The purpose of this study is actually potential to help millions of people who are paralyzed or have Neurodegenerative disease.

The results of this study are published in the scientific report of the journal Nature, is expected to help the robotics industry of the future. Bin Dia, one of the University of Minnesota's biomedical engineering professors, said this progress is the first in the world how humans can operate a robotic arm to reach objects and experience a complex 3 Dimensional environment. All of those tasks only use minds without brain implants.

Control Robot Arm With Mind

In the development of a non-invasive technique called Electro Encephalography (EEG) based on brain and computer interfaces. This technique records the weak electrical activity in the brain of special subjects, where high-tech EEG equipped with 64 electrodes capable of 'turning the power of thought into action' by sending signals can be understood machine. At least this study has involved eight healthy people to complete an experimental session wearing an EEG hat.

Everyone gradually learns to imagine moving their own hands, but without the use of the hands and only controlling the robot arm in 3D space. They start from learning to control the virtual cursor on the computer screen and then learn to control the robot arm to reach objects on the table. Experimentally, they were able to move the robotic arm to various locations randomly on the table and move objects, just by thinking of movement. In moving objects from table to rack, the success rate controls the robot arm with an average mind above 70 percent.

The potential and progress of these findings are thought to be helpful to people who are paralyzed or have Neurodegenerative disease, so they can be more independent without the need for implant surgery. Scientists say brain and computer interface technologies could be created because of the geography of the motor cortex (the part of the brain that regulates movement). When humans move or think about a movement, then the neurons in the motor cortex will produce a small electric current.



Everyone can think of different movements, thus activating various neurons, by sorting out the various neurons then forming a robotic arm control with the mind. The development of this robotic arm control has been developed based on research published three years ago.

The next research is planned to develop a body of robots that are attached to a person and controlled by the brain, such as wearing iron clothing or similar to 'Iron Man' costume. So this design will be very suitable for stroke or paralyzed patients.

Reference

University of Minnesota Research shows that people can control a robotic arm with their minds, by University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering, Dec. 14, 2016. Noninvasive Electroencephalogram Based Control of a Robotic Arm for Reach and Grasp Tasks. Scientific Reports, 2016; 6: 38565 DOI: 10.1038 / srep38565