TOYOTA, OTHERS DEVELOP THOUGHT-CONTROLLED WHEELCHAIR
TM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- A Japanese research team
including Toyota Motor Corp. (TSE:7203) said Monday that it has
developed a "brain-machine interface" that can steer a
wheelchair by reading a person's mind.
Imagining moving one's arms and legs creates minute changes
in brain activity. The interface can detect these differences
with an array of five sensors worn on the head.
After a week of training for three hours a day, subjects
were able to turn the wheelchair right or left by thinking of
their corresponding hand or foot and to move the chair forward
by thinking of the scene ahead. Officials watched Monday as a
thought-controlled wheelchair weaved through an obstacle course
set up at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science
and Technology's headquarters here. The technology has an
accuracy of more than 95 per cent.
Government-affiliated research institute Riken also worked
on development .
Research on brain-machine interfaces is proceeding briskly
around the world. The technology holds promise for creating
responsive robots for use in nursing care. Household
applications include controlling air conditioners and other
appliances. And this would likely be just the beginning.
Honda Motor Co. (TSE:7267) and others have conducted
successful trials of a thought-controlled robot that moves with
an accuracy of more than 90 per cent but requires bulky
detection devices. What makes the Toyota team's technology
advantageous is that it takes only a laptop computer to process
brain signals accurately and in real time, according to an
official from Toyota's robotics division.
The team says that mountains of problems still stand in the
way of thought-controlled cars, however.
(Nikkei) lm
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