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Monkeys Control Robot Arm With Their Thoughts

It’s an astonishing development. But who among us hasn’t felt like a monkey-thought-controlled robot arm at some point in our working lives? No unkind Scott McClellan jokes, please. But this part is especially chilling: 

The new experiment goes a step further. In it, the monkeys’ brains seem to have adopted the mechanical appendage as their own, refining its movement as it interacted with real objects in real time. The monkeys had their own arms gently restrained while they learned to use the added one.

I mean in a metaphorical monkey-thought-controlled robot arm sense. Clearly a positive development for humans who would like to be able to control robot arms with their thoughts.

Experts not involved with the study said the findings were likely to accelerate interest in human testing, especially given the need to treat head and spinal injuries in veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

“This study really pulls together all the pieces from earlier work and provides a clear demonstration of what’s possible,” said Dr. William Heetderks , director of the extramural science program at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering.

Dr. John Donoghue, director of the Institute of Brain Science at Brown University, said the new report was “important because it’s the most comprehensive study showing how an animal interacts with complex objects, using only brain activity.”

The researchers, from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, used monkeys partly because of their anatomical similarities to humans and partly because they are quick learners.

I’d just caution that all the simians I’ve had close professional relationships with were also perverse brutes, coconut-obsessed evolutionary throwbacks who shouldn’t be trusted with robot arms. And whatever you do, keep the monkeys away from these things:

In other important science news, the International Space Station’s toilet backs up. Working toilet is payload manager’s priority:

“Clearly, having a working toilet is a priority for us, so some of these things that we didn’t need for the next six months or so could wait,” said payload manager Scott Higginbotham.  

Heh heh. He’s a payload manager.

Topics: deep thot, monkeys, robots

  Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:41 am on Thursday, May 29, 2008

3 Responses to “Monkeys Control Robot Arm With Their Thoughts”

1. Fatty Bolger Says:
   May 29th, 2008 at 3:43 pm

   I remember reading that somebody had taught rat brains how to fly jet fighters. If rat brains can do that, I bet we could replace the entire US Congress with monkey brains and nobody would notice. Might even be an improvement.

2. Campfire » Blog Archive » The Eternal Struggle Says:
   May 29th, 2008 at 4:28 pm

   [...] light of recent events in the world of science, it’s time to revisit the age-old conflict: Monkey versus Robot. [...]

3. RebeccaH Says:
   May 29th, 2008 at 9:42 pm

   Jokes aside, I’m excited by this kind of research. Eventually, paralysis will be a quaint disorder that happened to the barbarians in the past, along with other disabilities, like blindness and deafness.

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