BrainMachine Interface BMI

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Brain-Machine Interface (BMI)
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What is Brain-Machine Interface?

• It is a collaboration in which a brain accepts
  and controls a mechanical device as a natural
  part of its representation of the body
• By reading signals from an array of neurons and
  using computer chips and programs to translate
  the signals into action, scientists hope it will
  be possible for a person suffering from paralysis
  to control a motorized wheelchair or a prosthetic
  limb by just thinking about it

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What are the challenges in developing BMI?

• Development of electrode devices and surgical
  methods that are minimally invasive
• Scientists are now working on developing a
  telemetry chip to collect and transmit data
  through the skull without any external sockets or
  cables
• It is expected that in the future, BMI devices
  will be as common as pacemakers which work
  involuntarily

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BrainGate consists of neural signal sensor
(consists of a tiny chip smaller than a baby
aspirin with 100 electrode sensors each thinner
than a hair that detect brain cell electrical
activity).
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Current Development

• December 7 2004, an implantable BMI the size of
  an aspirin has been clinically tested on humans
  by an American company, Cyberkinetics, called
  BrainGate.
• BrainGate is a 10-year research project
• The BrainGate device can provide paralyzed or
  motor-impaired patients a mode of communication
  through the translation of thought into direct
  computer control

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Current Development

• Researchers at University of Pittsburgh have
  already demonstrated that a monkey can feed
  itself with a robotic arm simply by using signals
  from its brain
• A 25 year old quadpriplegic (total paralysis from
  the neck down) has successfully been able to
  switch on lights, adjust the volume on a TV,
  change channels and read e-mail using only his
  brain while carrying on a conversation and moving
  his head at the same time

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Dr. Robot

• Vaguely resembling R2D2 in Star Wars movie with a
  computer screen for a head, a video camera for
  eyes and a speaker for a mouth, Dr. Robot talks
  and listens to patients at Johns Hopkins Medical
  Institutions
• Dr. Robot is directly linked to a real doctor who
  uses the robot as its ears, mouth and eyes

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Dr. Robot

• Patients enjoy remote video interactions/teleconfe
  rencing via Dr. Robot
• The robot enables remote medical experts to
  virtually consult with caregivers, patients,
  residents and family members at the point of
  care, whenever and wherever they are needed
• The use of robot is useful when it is not
  practical or possible to physically send in
  physicians, such as in military operations,
  natural or bioterrorist disasters, at sea or in
  other remote or underserved locations

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Prof Kevin Warwick- the human cyborg

• Kevin Warwick is a professor of cybernetics at
  the University of Reading in the United Kingdom
  and is one of the leading experts in machine
  intelligence.
• On 20 April 1998, Professor Warwick had a glass
  capsule about 23 millimeters long and 3
  millimeters wide containing an electromagnetic
  coil and a silicon chip inserted in his arm.

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Prof Kevin Warwick- the human cyborg

• The chip, in conjunction with computer equipment
  in his house, turns lights on and off when he
  enters and exits room, and gives him a spoken,
  running tally of the mail in his email box.
• The chip merely sends out an identifying signal,
  and is not tied into Warwick's nervous system,
  but is still a step forward since his body has
  not rejected the foreign matter.