The Rise Of The Machines May Soon Come

By Sam Bakken in News on Mar 22, 2005 10:08PM

With the media's around the clock coverage of the Schiavo debacle (YAWN, anyone?), the talk around the Chicagoist offices has tended towards what we would want if we were in a persistent vegetative state. Then, talk inevitably leads to cryopreservation. We've decided our living will will include language like "freeze our head" and "thaw it" and "give us a robot body".

Cyborgs are cool man. Being one is even cooler. Why is it that every cyborg fantasy includes rocket-launching arms?

Anyway, we may be a lot closer to missile arms and laser eyes than we ever realized. Cyberkinetics Neurotechnology Systems Inc. has developed the BrainGate Neural Interface System, a process that allows the individual to control the computer with their thoughts. The system starts with a sensor placed on an area of the brain that controls movement. The sensor is then connected to a pedestal attached to the skull that "protrudes through the skin". This pedestal records the signals from the sensor and sends them to a device that interprets those signals with software. The interpreted signals are then sent to a computer, allowing interaction with the computer strictly through electrical impulses in the brain.

They've only tested the system with one man, a quadriplegic, thus far and the whole thing is still a prototype, but the FDA gave Cyberkinetics permission to test the system on four more people. The original tester was able to move a cursor on a computer screen, play Pong and move a robot arm. The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago is currently recruiting volunteers and hopes to choose one in a month.