Have you ever given a thought at how you interact with machines? We all take the simplest things for granted, but take a moment and look at your mouse, which you just used to click on this article. Or at the screen you just tapped. Or however it is you got in here.
That is what we call an interface. It’s a medium that allows you to connect to a machine, in a way that you can control it, and it follows your commands to the letter.
We have come a long way in interface technology – but there’s an even greater way to go. So today I’d like to talk to you about a giant’s leap incoming in this area. I speak, of course, of brain-machine interfaces.
This new technology might just completely change the way we interact with the world around us. So I’m gonna try to tell you the 5 most important tidbits I could find about it!
Let’s get started, shall we?
1 – It works by reading your brain signals
This isn’t going to be an anatomy class about your brain and how it works, but I’ll give you some pointers.
I assume you have a basic idea of how your brain works. Thoughts generate brain signals, which spread themselves around your brain thanks to neurons and other neuronal bodies. Certain thoughts, or mental activities are more likely to happen in certain parts of your brain. Intention to move, for example, happens more in the parietal lobe. Seeing is mostly done by the occipital lobe (in the back of your head), and so on.
We can detect those brain signals. In fact, that’s how this new technology works. Say you’re looking at a mouse pointer and are thinking that you want it to go up. EEG systems can perfectly detect the corresponding brain signals in the correct zone, and make the cursor do what you wanted it to.
This is the crux of this technology – collecting your brain signals as input, then interpreting them to make the output you want with the machine. In layman terms, you can control a machine with your thoughts.
The potential for this technology is staggering. Let’s look at that…
2 – It could have revitalize entertainment mediums…
Many of us probably thought the same thing – videogames would be so much better if you didn’t have to struggle with controls, wouldn’t they?
Indeed, that is one of the most pursues avenues of Brain-Machine Interface research. Some universities have even created simple videogames taking advantage of these systems, and many companies have plans for more after that.
Some companies express an interest in horror games, others in alliying this system with Virtual Reality (another promising area I’ve spoken of before), and many other ideas are floating around. However, these videogames could have purposes going beyond mere entertainment…
3 – … and medical treatments as well.
During my time at college, I’ve had an opportunity to examine the use of Brain Machine Interfaces for rehabilitative purposes. And let me tell you, early results are promising.
These technologies can be surprisingly amazing at improving the outcomes of various physical therapies, and open up new treatment options for people with really bad conditions.
Think of Stephen Hawking. A very famous and well known person who suffers from ALS, a very serious disease. Most people with this disease eventually find themselves losing control of their bodies, rendered unable to communicate. This technology could give them great relief. There are Brain Machine Interfaces that allow them to spell out any message they might have letter by letter, just by reading their brain signals while looking at a grid with letters. This tech is a game changer for those people.
It also allows people paralyzed from the waist down to finally move again – by connecting an exoskeleton to a Brain Machine Interface, they can control the exoskeleton as if they themselves were walking. The exoskeleton can read their brain signals and perform the desired movements to perfection.
There are many other therapies that can be enhanced with these technologies as well. While the tech necessary to make this mainstream might be a few years away, it’s only a matter of time. Because you see, this tech has a great past…
4 – Their path has been great so far…
Most of you may look at this and think that this technology is no more than distant sci-fi. Or that it’s a super recent area of research.
…in truth, research into this started as early as 1969. Early experiences were made with monkeys, demonstrating that they could be trained to produce certain type of neural activity willingly, in certain situations.
By the 1990s however, a man named Miguel Nicolelis made great strides in this area. He made a Brain Machine Interface that could read the brain activity of monkeys, and determine what kind of arm movements monkeys would do. Furthermore, they could feed these readings into robotic arms, which would then perform the desired movements by the monkeys.
Effectively, monkeys controlled a robotic arm with their thoughts in this experiment.
Many more experiments have been made throughout the years. Nicolelis started a wave of research that continues till this day. Every year, more and more articles are published with research into this area.
The past and present of this technology are covered. Now what about the future?
5 - …and the future looks bright.
As the Internet of Things gains moment, this technology will follow along… and the two are predicted to merge into a new paradigm that will change how we live our lives.
These interfaces won’t simply be limited to entertainment, medical use, or any single area… they will permeate our entire lives.
Picture this. You get home after a hard day of work. A discrete EEG headband you always wear is in your head, but you hardly even notice it anymore. You flick the lights on with a thought. You think of the relaxing music you’d like to play, and the sound system in your house picks it up and plays it. You picture what you want to watch on your TV and it turns on at that precise channel. The only thing on your mind is dinner now… But the thought soon leaves your mind when your oven turns on of its’ own accord, and quickly heats up the Thai food you ordered at work, just by picturing it.
Sounds too good to be true? Yet this might just be the future.
The ultimate gift of this technology is that we no longer would have to rely on our hands and bodies to do our work… our minds would suffice.
That wraps this up!
I hope you enjoyed this article! Tomorrow, I’ll be covering another nice fusion between our bodies and the tech world around us – body mods! Just like a user asked some weeks ago!
Meanwhile, sounds off in the comments below, tell me If you enjoyed this or not, and ask whatever questions you may want!
Steem on!