Monkey Think, Monkey Do

[John T. Brinkmann]

Mike:  Could you pass on the URL for "The Registry".

Thanks.
John B.

OnwardMike at aol.com wrote:

> Russ Anderson, a charter member of this list and a paraplegic, once observed
> that "the cure" is always "five years away," whether you started counting in
> 1975 or in 2000.  So here's another entrant in the Derby.
>
> I think the AP story pointed out that while this technology has applicability
> for sending signals *to* a prosthesis (for example), there is no solution yet
> -- under this research -- to get a signal back from the prosthesis to the
> brain.
>
> Michael B.
>
> << FROM "THE REGISTER," AN ONLINE TECHNOLOGY PAPER
>
> Monkey brain signals used to work robots
> By: Lucy Sherriff
> Posted: 16/11/2000 at 13:03 GMT
>
> Researchers have moved a step closer to creating workable neural prostheses,
> following the identification, in monkeys, of the brain signals the lead to
> motion. They have also been able to use those signals to trigger the same
> movement in a robot in real time.
>
> Previous work in the area has involved a time delay between intercepting the
> signals and instigating robotic movement.
>
> The technology is possible because of the way a primate's brain works. Before
> we do anything, our brains plan it at a sub-conscious level. There is a tiny
> delay between the planning phase and carrying it out, which can be exploited
> by a robot.
>
> "As the monkey brain prepares the pattern required to make the movement, we
> record it and send the signal to a computer," Dr. Miguel A. L. Nicolelis, a
> neuroscientist at Duke University, said. "As the monkey starts to move, our
> prediction is sent to the robot, and it moves at the same time."
>
> The long term goal of research like this is to develop proper brain to
> machine interfaces that would allow paralysed people to walk again. The idea
> behind this is that even if the movement is no longer possible, the brain may
> still plan a motion. If this is so then eventually someone paralysed from the
> waist down could use technology like this to walk.
>
> The next step, the researchers said, would be to close the loop. They
> speculate that eventually a monkey may learn to use a remote robot to do its
> bidding, without actually carrying out the motions itself.
>
> Once perfected, it could be used by surgeons as they learn to use a
> prosthetic device as an extension of their bodies.
>
> That, however, is still a long way off the researchers say. The "small"
> problem of miniaturising and implanting the electrodes still remains to be
> solved. ® >>
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