Robot Avatar Body Controlled by Thought Alone
From: New Scientist - 07/04/2012
By: Helen Thomson 

An international team of researchers, working on the Virtual Embodiment and
Robotic Re-embodiment project, have used functional magnetic resonance
imagery to scan the brain of a university student as he imagined moving
different parts of his body. The researchers hope to eventually provide
people with the ability to embody a robot hundreds of miles away using
thought alone. Bar-Ilan University researchers first ran the student through
several training stages in which he attempted to direct a virtual avatar by
thinking of moving his hands and legs. The commands were sent via an Internet
connection to a small robot at the Beziers Technology Institute. The system
enabled the student to control the robot in near real time with his thoughts,
while a camera on the robot's head allowed him to see from the robot's
perspective. The researchers are fine-tuning the algorithm to look for
patterns in brain activity instead of just the active areas, which will
enable each thought process to control a greater range of movements. "I think
it is very impressive and in the broadest sense reflects where it is that we
are trying to get to in enabling communication in patients who are deemed to
be locked in or even vegetative," says University of Western Ontario's Adrian
Owen. 

Read the entire article at: (login required)
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528725.900-robot-avatar-body-controlled-by-thought-alone.html

Links:
Virtual Embodiment and Robotic Re-embodiment
http://www.vereproject.eu/

CNRS-AIST joint robotics laboratory
http://unit.aist.go.jp/is/cie/group/jrl_e.html

How to control a robot with your thoughts (video 2:09)
http://www.newscientist.com/videoredirect?bcpid=96978243001&bckey=AQ~~,AAAAADqBmN8~,Yo4S_rZKGX37VoTHytsO5tNRQyuMSIxf&bclid=0&bctid=1718376803001

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Tele-operated Robot Offers Immobile Patients More Autonomy
From: Robotics Trends - 11/21/2012

The robot translates the user's mental focus into action 

Researchers at the CNRS-AIST Joint Robotics Laboratory (a collaboration
between France's Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Japan's
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology) are
developing software that allows a person to drive a robot with their thoughts
alone. The technology could one day give a paralyzed patient greater autonomy
through a robotic agent or avatar. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.roboticstrends.com/service_healthcare/article/tele_operated_robot_offers_immobile_patients_more_autonomy/

Links:
CNRS-AIST Joint Robotics Laboratory
http://unit.aist.go.jp/is/cie/group/jrl_e.html

HRP-2 robot
http://www.33rdsquare.com/2011/12/androids-among-us-our-top-ten-humanoid.html