Monkey Brains In U.S. Make Robot Walk In Japan

Source: InformationWeek

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have used a monkey's brain activity to control a robot on the other side of the globe.

In what researchers tout as a first-of-its-kind experiment, monkeys' thoughts controlled the walking patterns of a robot in Japan.

"They can walk in complete synchronization," said Dr. Miguel Nicolelis, who also is the Anne W. Deane Professor of Neuroscience at Duke. "The most stunning finding is that when we stopped the treadmill and the monkey ceased to move its legs, it was able to sustain the locomotion of the robot for a few minutes -- just by thinking -- using only the visual feedback of the robot in Japan."

Implanted electrodes gathered feedback from brain cells of two rhesus monkeys as they walked forward and backward at different paces on a treadmill. Sensors on the monkeys' legs tracked walking patterns while researchers used math models to analyze the relationship between leg movement and activity in the brain's motor and sensory cortex. From there, researchers in North Carolina and Japan determined how well brain cell activity predicted speed and stride.

Read more: http://www.informationweek.com/internet/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=205801020

Wouldn't it be cool if your physical therapist and you could hook up to the computer and he can "walk" you through the therapy routine you need remotely...

Or, if you want to get kinky, :evilgrin:

...but what's he doing in Japan??

Cue Bob the Angry Flower.

BTAF aficionados will understand.

http://www.angryflower.com/

No further text is necessary.

after a spinal injury, worth it. No other comments needed. Respect your position.

I don't believe the monkeys were killed, since the experiment required their FUNCTIONING nervous systems.

but you can't pet a kitten, cause you'd crush it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender%27s_Game

Tesha

:yoiks: