Monkeys control robots with their minds!
Scientists have trained a group of monkeys to feed themselves marshmallows using a robot arm controlled by sensors implanted in their brains.
Lead researcher Andrew Schwartz of the University of Pittsburgh said he believes it won't be long before the technology is tested in humans, although he predicts it will be longer before the devices are used in actual patients with disabilities.
The arm is controlled by a network of tiny electrodes called a brain-machine interface, implanted into the motor cortex of the monkeys' brains -- the region that controls movement.
It picks up the signals of brain cells as they generate commands to move and converts those into directional signals for the robotic arm, which the monkeys eventually used as a surrogate for their own.
In a video, a macaque monkey uses the robotic arm to seize pieces of marshmallow off a thin rod positioned at various locations. The arm is designed to move realistically, with a range of shoulder movements -- an elbow that moves in just one direction and a simple claw grip to simulate a hand.
Lead researcher Andrew Schwartz of the University of Pittsburgh said he believes it won't be long before the technology is tested in humans, although he predicts it will be longer before the devices are used in actual patients with disabilities.
The arm is controlled by a network of tiny electrodes called a brain-machine interface, implanted into the motor cortex of the monkeys' brains -- the region that controls movement.
It picks up the signals of brain cells as they generate commands to move and converts those into directional signals for the robotic arm, which the monkeys eventually used as a surrogate for their own.
In a video, a macaque monkey uses the robotic arm to seize pieces of marshmallow off a thin rod positioned at various locations. The arm is designed to move realistically, with a range of shoulder movements -- an elbow that moves in just one direction and a simple claw grip to simulate a hand.
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