Working in Movement

Earlier posts talk about a brain-computer interface that facilitates such things as monkeys controlling robotic arms with their thoughts, that sort of thing. This technology, of course, has vast potential for folks who can't move their own arms and legs, but progress had been relatively slow in developing the technology.

The pace of development seems to be accelerating, however. According to Patients Put on Thinking Caps, half of all the scientific papers on BCI have been published in the past two years. The article talks about a paralysed guy who's now able to do things like using a computer, turn on lights, flipping television channels and even playing video games, all by thought. Great, but it's all done with a small brain implant. That's expensive, not to mention the medical risks of infection or even brain damage from opening up skulls and putting things under it. That may not always be the case:

But other researchers are working on simpler, noninvasive BCIs. Jonathan Wolpaw, a professor at the Wadsworth Center in New York, published a paper in December 2004 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showing that his noninvasive electroencephalogram, or EEG, cap could pick up brain signals at least as well as Cyberkinetics' invasive technology.

The implantable stuff is also developing. There are plans for much more precision in the movements controlled, things like pouring coffee, handwriting or even swinging a tennis racquet. And there are even plans to go further by designing and implanting devices directly into muscles themselves so that the thoughts might control parts of the body otherwise incapable of movement.

The logical application of all this is therapeutic. But just think of the potential for sports instruction or even enhancing athletic performance. Maybe steroids were just the tip of the ice berg. Come to think of it, how do you test athletes for neural or motor implants?