Some day soon, human brains and robots may be able to interact seamlessly. Traditionally, brain-machine interface (BMI) has required invasive surgical procedures, such as electrode array implants. But, scientists in Japan have discovered a more direct way for people to communicate with robots.
Researchers at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (Kyoto, Japan) and Honda Research Institute Japan Co. (Tokyo) have developed a way to manipulate robots by using brain activity signals. The new technology has enabled the decoding of natural brain activity, and the use of the extracted data for the near real-time operation of a robot, without an invasive incision of the head and brain.