Man and robot linked by brain scanner - Avatar

Robot avatars have got a step closer to being the real world doubles of those who are paralysed or have locked-in-syndrome. Scientists have made a robot move on a human's behalf by monitoring thoughts about movement, reports New Scientist.

Mirror test
The research project connected a robot to a man having his brain scanned using fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging). This monitors blood flowing through the brain and can spot when areas associated with certain actions, such as movement, are in use.

The next step for the research is to refine it to use a different type of scanning that can work using a skull cap rather than an fMRI machine that a person has to lie in. The robot used to represent a human is to be upgraded to a version that has a similar stature and gait to a real person.

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Sources:
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18721658
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528725.900-robot-avatar-body-controlled-by-thought-alone.html

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Research from the Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht 6200 MD, The Netherlands.

Summary: fMRI-based spelling device for potential communication with locked-in patients ► Each letter of the alphabet can be hemodynamically encoded by a single mental process ► Evoked single-trial fMRI responses can be decoded in real time with high accuracy ► Requires almost zero pretraining; methods can be readily used at standard MRI sites.