The Future of Brain-Controlled Devices
From: CNN.com - 01/04/2010
By: Anne Hammock

Several researchers are developing brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) to create
new technologies for use in fields ranging from medicine and military
operations to entertainment and video games. BCIs come in two basic varieties
- noninvasive, which uses electrodes placed on the scalp to measure brain
activity, and invasive, in which electrodes are connected directly to the
brain. Georgia Tech University's Melody Moore Jackson leads research in
neuroprosthetics and helped develop a smart wheelchair called the Aware
Chair, which can be controlled by brain activity. Jackson also is working on
an invasive procedure that would enable patients to type messages on a
computer using just their thoughts. The University of Washington's Rajesh Rao
is using a similar concept to develop robots that can do household chores for
paralyzed people. Meanwhile, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Ed
Boyden says tiny optical devices can be implanted that would enable blind
people to see. "We don't know what the limits are yet," Jackson says. The US
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is working on a project known as
Silent Talk that would allows soldiers to communicate with just their
thoughts. Such technologies also open the door to ethical issues. "You can
imagine communicating with your friends through the devices, and that opens
up a lot of ethical issues," Rao says. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/30/brain.controlled.computers/index.html

Links:
Melody Moore Jackson
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~melody/

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

Army Funds ‘Synthetic Telepathy’ Research
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/08/army-funds-synt/

Pentagon Preps Soldier Telepathy Push
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/05/pentagon-preps-soldier-telepathy-push/