Researchers Demonstrate Direct Brain Control of Humanoid Robot
From: UW News - 12/14/2006
By: Hannah Hickey

University of Washington researchers have developed a system whereby a
humanoid robot can be instructed to pick up objects and move to specific
locations by detecting signals from a human brain. UW associate professor of
computer science and engineering Rao Rajesh said, "This is really a
proof-of-concept demonstration. It suggests that one day we might be able to
use semi-autonomous robots for such jobs as helping disabled people or
performing routine tasks in a person's home." The "master," who wears a skull
cap with 32 electrodes attached to it that sense brain activity using a
technique known as electroencephalography, looks at a computer screen that
shows displays from two cameras mounted on and above the robot, upon which
objects and locations randomly light up. When the object the master wants the
robot to pick up, or the location they wish the robot to go to, lights up,
the user's sense of "surprised" brain activity alerts the robot to execute
the command. "One of the important things about this demonstration is that
we're using a 'noisy' brain signal to control the robot," Rajesh says. "The
technique for picking up brain signals is non-invasive, but that means we can
only obtain brain signals indirectly from sensors on the surface of the head,
and not where they are generated deep in the brain. As a result, the user can
only generate high-level commands such as indicating which object to pick up
or which location to go to, and the robot needs to be autonomous enough to be
able to execute such commands." Further tasks, such as the robot avoiding
obstacles through awareness of its surroundings, will require giving it
greater learning ability. The system allows robot and master to be anywhere
in the world, so long as there is an Internet connection between them. Rajesh
calls it a "primitive" step in the direction of having robots aid disabled
people or perform household chores. 

Read the entire article at:
http://uwnews.washington.edu/ni/article.asp?articleID=28819

Links:
Rajesh P. N. Rao
http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/rao/

Neural Systems Laboratory
http://neural.cs.washington.edu/

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Human-Robot Interface
From: NASA Tech Briefs Insider - 12/19/2006

Researchers at the University of Washington (Seattle, WA) can control the
movement of a humanoid robot with signals from a human brain. The controller
wears a cap dotted with 32 electrodes designed to detect brain signals
through the scalp. The person watches the robot's movements on a computer
screen via two cameras, one mounted on the robot and another above it. A
person can instruct the robot to move forward, choose one of two available
objects, pick it up, and bring it to one of two locations. Preliminary
results show 94% accuracy in choosing the correct object. The "master" and
the robot can be anywhere in the world as long as there is Internet
connectivity between their two locations.