Monkeys "Move and Feel" Virtual Objects Using Only Their Brains 
From: Duke Medicine - 10/05/2011

In a first-ever demonstration of a two-way interaction between a primate
brain and a virtual body, two monkeys trained at the Duke University Center
for Neuroengineering learned to employ brain activity alone to move an avatar
hand and identify the texture of virtual objects. 

"Someday in the near future, quadriplegic patients will take advantage of
this technology not only to move their arms and hands and to walk again, but
also to sense the texture of objects placed in their hands, or experience the
nuances of the terrain on which they stroll with the help of a wearable
robotic exoskeleton," said study leader Miguel Nicolelis, MD, PhD, professor
of neurobiology at Duke University Medical Center and co-director of the Duke
Center for Neuroengineering. 

Read the entire article and view a video at:
http://www.dukehealth.org/health_library/news/monkeys-move-and-feel-virtual-objects-using-only-their-brains

Links:
Monkey brains 'feel' virtual objects 
http://www.nature.com/news/2011/111005/full/news.2011.576.html

Active tactile exploration using a brain–machine–brain interface
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature10489.html

Duke University Center for Neuroengineering
http://www.duke.edu/~ch/Neuroeng/Neuro.htm

Miguel Nicolelis, MD, PhD
http://www.neuro.duke.edu/faculty/nicoleli

Walk Again Project
http://www.walkagainproject.org/

Monkeys Use Brain Activity to Move and Feel Virtual Objects 
http://www.techbriefs.com/component/content/article/11593

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Monkeys "Move and Feel" Virtual Objects Using Only Their Brains
From: ACM Tech News

Duke University researchers recently conducted an experiment involving
monkeys using brain-machine-brain interfaces (BMBIs) to control and receive
feedback with virtual avatars. "Someday in the near future, quadriplegic
patients will take advantage of this technology not only to move their arms
and hands and to walk again, but also to sense the texture of objects placed
in their hands, or experience the nuances of the terrain on which they stroll
with the help of a wearable robotic exoskeleton," says Duke professor Miguel
Nicolelis. The monkeys were able to use their electrical brain activity to
direct the virtual hands of an avatar to the surface of virtual objects and
differentiate their textures. The texture of the virtual objects was
expressed as a pattern of small electrical signals transmitted to the
monkeys' brains. "In this BMBI, the virtual body is controlled directly by
the animal's brain activity, while its virtual hand generates tactile
feedback information that is signaled via direct electrical microstimulation
of another region of the animal's cortex," according to Nicolelis. He says
the experiments provide further evidence that it could be possible to develop
a robotic exoskeleton that paralyzed patients could wear to experience the
world and move autonomously.