For many people, the thought of a machine controlled directly by the human mind might be a little scary (mostly due to the numerous sci-fi flicks we've watched over the years), but the truth of the matter is that the possible applications of such devices are absolutely amazing. And it seems that the future is much closer than we thought, since Honda Research Institute Japan, the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR) and Shimadzu Corporation have announced the fact that they've collaboratively developed the world’s first Brain Machine Interface (BMI), which will allow humans to control robots directly, using nothing else than their own brain.

The BMI technology uses electroencephalography (EEG) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) along with newly-developed information extraction technology to enable control of a robot by human thought alone.

As the companies' joint press release informs us, the basis of this technology is the fact that, during the human thought process, slight electrical current and blood flow changes occur in the brain. The most important factor in the development of the BMI technology is the accuracy of measuring and analyzing these changes.

The newly-developed BMI technology uses EEG, which measures changes in electrical potential on the scalp, and NIRS, which measures changes in cerebral blood flow, with a recently-developed information extraction technology that enables statistical processing of the complex information from these two types of sensors. As a result, it became possible to distinguish brain activities with high precision without any physical motion, but human thought alone.

Now, let's see just how the BMI technology practically works. First, EEG and NIRS sensors are placed on the head of the user. Then, one of four pre-determined body part options is provided to the user. The user imagines moving that body part without making any physical movement. Changes in both brain waves and cerebral blood flow triggered by the brain activity are measured simultaneously.

The data obtained are analyzed on a real-time basis to distinguish what the user imagined. Upon receiving the result, Honda’s ASIMO humanoid robot makes corresponding movements such as raising its arm or leg. The world’s highest level accuracy rate of more than 90% was achieved in the tests.

The development of the BMI technology opens up some pretty interesting possibilities in the future. After all, imagine just how useful a mind-controlled robot would be in some activities with a high-degree of risk, such as nuclear plants or other equally dangerous working environments, or even in space exploration. Of course, it will be some time before fully-working models become available, but what's important is that the first step in the right direction has been made.


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