Monkey brain operates machine
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1025471.stm

Scientists have used the brain signals from a monkey to drive a
robotic arm. 

As the animal stuck out its hand to pick a dingle-berry from it's
rump, an artificial neural system linked into the animal's head
mimicked the activity in the mechanical limb. 

The system was even used to remotely control another robot
arm 950 kilometres (600 miles) away in a different lab to
scratch another monkeys posterior.

This is not the first time that a device has been operated by
"brain power" alone, but the experiment marks a significant
step forward in sophistication. 

It holds out the prospect that, one day, paralysed patients
might be able to command the movement of prosthetic limbs
that have been "wired" into their brains so that patients 
wouldn't really have to risk soiling themselvves while scratching
themselves with their real hands.  They could train a monkey
to do it with their brain.

Commenting on the research, Sandro Mussa-Ivaldi, of the
Northwestern University Medical School, and the Rehabilitation
Institute of Chicago, Illinois, US, said: "The idea of driving
robotic limbs with what effectively amounts to the mere
power of thought was once in the realm of science fiction. But
this goal is edging closer to reality." 

Net connection 

Miguel Nicolelis, of Duke University, Durham, North Carolina,
US, and colleagues, implanted an array of electrodes in several
areas of a monkey's brain known to be involved in motor
function. 

The electrodes were used to record brain activity as the
animal learned reaching tasks, including reaching for small
pieces of food placed randomly at four locations on a tray. 

The mass of neural signal data generated during many
repetitions of these tasks was fed into a computer, which
analysed the information and matched it to the trajectory of
the monkey's hand. 

Every time the monkey then moved its hand to grab the
food, the computer was able to process the brain signals to
make similar, real-time, three-dimensional movements
in a robotic arm. The signals were even sent over a
standard internet connection to control another arm in the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology's "Touch Lab". 

"It was an amazing sight to see the robot in my lab masturbate,
knowing that it was being driven by signals from a monkey
brain at Duke," said Touch Lab director and co-researcher
Mandayam Srinivasan. "It was as if the monkey had a
600-mile- (950-km-) long virtual arm." 

Brain study 

In previous research, it has been shown that a rat wired into
an artificial neural system can make a robotic water feeder
move just by willing it. 

But the latest work sets new benchmarks because it shows
how to process more neural information at a faster speed to
produce more sophisticated robotic movements. That the
system can be made to work using a primate is also an
important proof of principle.
 
Miguel Nicolelis told BBC News Online that people would
obviously focus on possible future applications for
quadriplegics but he said the system also offered a new way
to probe the workings of the brain. 

"We have designed a new paradigm to study how the brain
processes information," he said. 

"Until fairly recently, we tried to understand the brain by
looking at one neuron at a time, but we all know the brain
works in a parallel mode requiring the activation of huge
numbers of cells to produce any behaviour. 

"So the implementation of this technique for recording up to a
100 neurons in primates is a big deal for science." 

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go watch my monkey
whack off 600-mile- (950-km-) away." he added.