Thought-control

Researchers have created cutting-edge graphene sensors to produce an interface that allows for accurate robotic control using thought alone. The development has positive implications for healthcare and a range of other industries.

When it comes to accurately reading the brain's electrical signals, many systems utilize implantable electrodes. A new technology is reportedly less invasive yet just as accurate, as it swaps regular electrodes for ultra-thin wires.

Various groups have already developed "thought-controlled" prosthetic hands, that respond to nerve impulses in the user's residual arm stump. A new system could make such hands easier than ever to use, by amplifying those impulses.

​In recent years, a brain-computer interface (BCI) developed by the US BrainGate consortium has allowed people to control a robotic arm and to type, using only their thoughts. Now, a group of paralyzed volunteers has utilized the technology to perform various functions on a tablet.

​Last year, we heard about an MIT-designed system that detects when someone has observed a robot making a mistake, and that stops the robot as a result. A new addition now allows that person to let the robot know what it SHOULD be doing, using hand gestures.

​Using a specialized sleeve, his own mind and a brain-implant smaller than a pea, a man paralyzed from the neck down has regained the ability to handle a variety of everyday objects.

Mind-controlled prosthetics, drones and exoskeletons are all very forward-thinking, but what about a more mundane use for the technology? The BBC's "Mind Control TV" prototype hints at a future where couch potatoes need not even lift the remote. Users can open an app and select a program to watch.

Researchers have developed an algorithm that enabled a man whose right hand had been amputated to grasp objects using a bionic hand controlled by his thoughts. While we've seen similar accomplishments in recent years, the new technique is non-invasive, capturing brain activity via a scalp EEG.

In what may be a just a taste of what's possible when you merge robotics and neuroscience, researchers from Portugal's Brainflight project have successfully demonstrated a drone flight piloted by human thought.

Scientists have developed an implant that causes cells to express a specific protein, and it's activated by brain waves. It could someday lead to implants that detect brainwaves associated with conditions such as epilepsy, and then respond by producing a protein that treats the condition.

Research at East Tennessee Sate University (ETSU) has suggested that brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) could help brainstem stroke patients suffering from locked-in syndrome to find their voice again, with very specific brainwaves serving as a typing finger for a virtual keyboard.

In what is being dubbed as a world first, a quadriplegic man has been given the ability to move his hand and fingers using a device implanted in his brain. Using his own thoughts, the device, dubbed "Neurobridge", effectively bypasses his damaged spinal cord to directly operate his muscles.