on brain-machine interface

[human being]

===================================================
Electromagnetic News & Views -- #54
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01) Top Stories of Electromagnetism

Monkeys Control Robotic Arm With Brain Implants
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A17434- 
2003Oct12?language=printer>

	'Scientists in North Carolina have built a brain implant that lets  
monkeys control a robotic arm with their thoughts, marking the first  
time that mental intentions have been harnessed to move a mechanical  
object.'

[and] shockwave demonstration graphic // via syndicate
<http://news.mc.duke.edu/filebank/2003/10/41/Robot_arm.swf>

[and] Imagining Thought-Controlled Movement for Humans // Superb.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/14/science/14BRAI.html>

	'The ability  to make  machines that respond to thoughts rests on some  
fundamental properties of the nervous system. The brains of monkeys  
plan every movement the body carries out  fractions of  seconds before  
the movements actually occur. Motor plans are in the form of electrical  
patterns which arise from cells that fire at the same time, from  
various parts of the brain.  The plans are sent to spinal cord neurons  
that have direct access to muscles. Only then are movements carried  
out.' .. 'To link brains and machines, researchers  place electrodes  
directly into parts of the brain that produce motor plans. They   
extract raw electrical signals that can be translated mathematically  
into signals that computers and robots understand.' ... 'There is  
preliminary evidence that humans produce the same sorts of motor  
signals as monkeys in planning movements.'

// *** welcome speech by Tether refered to in above NYT article.
// note: 2002. Brain Machine Interface. speech by Director Tether.

DARPATECH 2002 slides and scripts // the motherload of sci-fi R&D.
<http://www.darpa.mil/DARPATech2002/presentation.html>
	
	'Dr. Tony Tether, Director Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency  
(DARPA) DARPATech 2002 Welcoming Speech...' .... 'When I say bio  
revolution, I really mean just that. I have reviewed over the past year  
hundreds of projects, both ongoing and proposed. However, there is one  
project that has struck me the most. DARPA has a monkey at Duke  
University, where probes were implanted into its brain. The unique  
factor of these probes is that they were not rejected. They have been  
in the monkey for over a year now without any harmful effect. The  
monkey was given a joystick and taught that to receive a treat, the  
monkey had to move the joystick. The signals from the implant were  
transmitted to a mechanical arm also grasping a joystick. The  
mechanical arm was taught to move in the same manner as the monkey's  
arm. So, when the light came on, the monkey moved the joystick in order  
to get the treat. The signals were then sent over the Internet, of  
course, to MIT where the mechanical arm was located and the mechanical  
arm moved its joystick.' .. 'Now that is terrific, but that is not the  
chilling part. We took the joystick away from the monkey at Duke. The  
light came on. Who knows what the monkey really thought, but it knew  
what it had to do. But it had no joystick. However, the mechanical arm  
at MIT moved the joystick just like it did before. It was thought at  
first that the motor signal was being transmitted to MIT, but it turned  
out that the probes had tapped into the monkey's thoughts for moving  
the joystick. In other words, the monkey thought about moving the  
joystick, and the joystick at MIT moved.' .. 'This has tremendous  
possibilities. I don't know how long this is going to take, perhaps 25  
years or more. But it will happen. The genie is out of the bottle on  
this possibility, and the nation that first gains this capability will  
dominate.' .. 'Imagine 25 years from now where old guys like me put on  
a pair of glasses or a helmet and open our eyes. Somewhere there will  
be a robot that will open its eyes and we will be able to see what the  
robot sees. We will be able to remotely look down on a cave and think  
to ourselves, "Let's go down there and kick some butt." And the robots  
will respond, controlled by our thoughts. It's coming. Imagine a  
warrior—with the intellect of a human and the immortality of a  
machine—controlled by our thoughts.' .. 'DARPA has started a major  
program in this area. DARPA is the only place you can have such a  
program, and talk about it! This is a great time to be in R&D.' ...  
'Who are these future warfighters? Do we know them? You bet we do; they  
are our children.' .. 'The theme of DARPATech 2002 is "Transforming  
Fantasy." Our fantasies today will be their reality in the future. And  
that's the most motivating factor of all.'

...

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