Brain-Computer Interface

Researchers in Japan are developing robotic body parts that would be controlled by a microchip implant. They are basically going to place electrode sheets on the surface of the brain that would translate brain signals into movement. This research will help people who currently have disabilities and can't normally move. Here in the United States, a company called Cyberkinetics has already had some success in doing the same thing. They have created brain-machine interfaces that can process signals from the brain. The implant is a little more invasive than just reading EEG signals (brain waves).

Cyberkinetics' unique technology is able to simultaneously sense the electrical activity of many individual neurons. Our sensor consists of a silicon array about the size of a baby aspirin that contains one hundred electrodes, each thinner than a human hair. The array is implanted on the surface of the brain.

Cyberkinetics' sensor (see image to left) is a small chip that is placed onto the brain via brain surgery. This chip has 100 microelectrode sensors which can each detect electrical impulses on the brain's motor cortex. The electrodes on the chip are each embedded approximately 1 millimeter into the brain. The motor cortex is on the outer layer of the brain in close proximity to the skull. This brain area is involved in the control of a person's appendages.

The human brain is a super computer with the ability to instantaneously process vast amounts of information. Cyberkinetics' technology allows for an extensive amount of electrical activity data to be transmitted from neurons in the brain to computers for analysis.

I already mentioned in the previous post that in clinical trials, patients have already been able to control a computer solely by manipulating their own thought processes after getting this implant. The scientist stephen hawkings for instance is unable to speak due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and he needs a computer voice synthesizer. If he had one of these implants, he would theoretically be able to just think about what words he wanted to speak and those brain signals would be translated by the computer chip and then would be spoken by his voice synthesizer.

In the future this technology may progress towards cyborg appendages that will be able to move in a similar manner to a real appendage. A disabled person might have an artificial robotic arm or leg and they would be able to control it as if it was a real one. The microchip inside the brain would wirelessly beam signals from the motor cortex directly to moving the robotic arm. So this would enable a near perfect interaction between a robotic arm and a person's body. The person of course wouldn't have any feeling in their arm, but it would be controlled in the same manner that a real arm would be. So basically anything could potentially be replaced by an artificial cyborg replica.

This technology could also be used for enhancement type purposes. Imagine being able to think words in your head and have them be instantaneously typed on a computer screen. Or perhaps you would be able to control things like your car, solely through your mind. Maybe a person would just want to get rid of their real arm/leg and replace it with a cyborg arm/leg for the purposes of having increased strength or agility. A cyborg appendage might potentially be better and last longer than a real one. The use of this brain implant technology could certainly blur the line between human and machine. As I said in the previous post, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (US military) is also working to perfect this technology as well. So soldiers may be the first to have their wartime wounds repaired with this type of microchip. Personally, a brain implant doesn't strike me as being too appealing. It seems like non-invasive EEG readings might potentially be easier to do than undergoing risky brain surgery. However, this technology is more sensitive than those types of reading devices. So in the future, it will likely be used in several different disorders where a more accurate measurement of brain activity is needed.