• Stephen Hawking trials device that reads his mind
    21 replies, posted
[quote] TECHNOLOGY has helped Stephen Hawking in many ways, and now it might allow him to communicate using thought alone. The cosmologist is trialling a device that monitors brain activity with the ultimate aim of transforming it into speech. Hawking has motor neurone disease - nerve decay that has left him almost completely paralysed. He currently communicates using a series of cheek twitches to select words from a screen. "It is a very, very slow process," says Philip Low at Stanford University in California, who is founder of healthcare company NeuroVigil. As Hawking loses control of his cheek, Low hopes he might instead communicate using his company's portable device. The iBrain records brain activity from a single point on the scalp. An algorithm then extracts useful information from this activity. In a preliminary trial, Low's team asked Hawking to imagine moving his hands and feet while wearing the device. They were able to identify what movement he was imagining through changes in his brain activity. They now hope to develop the technology to enable Hawking and others to use the imagined movements to instruct a computer to write or speak words. Low presented the work at the Francis Crick Memorial Conference in Cambridge, UK, on 8 July.[/quote] [url]http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528733.300-stephen-hawking-trials-device-that-reads-his-mind.html[/url] Sweet
Good for him. Now his right to free speech will continue to be free in the terms of freedom instead of eventually being trapped inside his body. :v:
[QUOTE=Vodkavia;36764986][img]http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/mg21528733.300/mg21528733.300-1_300.jpg[/img] I thought this thing would be big and bulky. I could definitely see a number applications for this technology with further development. Mind controlled machinery anyone?[/QUOTE] We already have mind controlled prosthetics to some degree, we just need to refine them a little bit more and we'll see amputees with robot limbs soon, but it might take a while before we hit cyborg commando levels.
I hope he lives long enough to become Mecha Hawking with super robot limbs.
[QUOTE=carcarcargo;36765043]I hope he lives long enough to become Mecha Hawking with super robot limbs.[/QUOTE] possibly the first to undergo full body prosthetic's?
[QUOTE=Pierrewithahat;36765006]We already have mind controlled prosthetics to some degree, we just need to refine them a little bit more and we'll see amputees with robot limbs soon, but it might take a while before we hit cyborg commando levels.[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.touchbionics.com/products/active-prostheses/i-limb-ultra/[/url] There's been active prosthesis on the market for some time now.
[QUOTE=Smasher 006;36765283][url]http://www.touchbionics.com/products/active-prostheses/i-limb-ultra/[/url] There's been active prosthesis on the market for some time now.[/QUOTE] Yeah but don't those pick up signals from the nerve ending of the amputated limb?
[QUOTE=Pierrewithahat;36765317]Yeah but don't those pick up signals from the nerve ending of the amputated limb?[/QUOTE] I suppose, but it's still better than static hooks or manually movable hands.
the iBrain? is it from Apple?
[QUOTE=Smasher 006;36765330]I suppose, but it's still better than static hooks or manually movable hands.[/QUOTE] Oh of course, but my point is that this one takes the signals directly from the brain as opposed to nerves in the limbs. Either way both are fucking awesome as hell.
I think that iBrain is a pretty silly name, really. Either way this is cool.
[QUOTE=carcarcargo;36765043]I hope he lives long enough to become Mecha Hawking with super robot limbs.[/QUOTE] Dare I say he'd be fit to rule the world? I don't know, but I'd trust him to.
Scientists should make an life-extending machine for him, like the one Mr. House has.
[QUOTE=D3TBS;36765334]the iBrain? is it from Apple?[/QUOTE] Apparently it's from a company called NeuroVirgil. Inb4 apple sues them broke for copyright.
I've always thought it would be crazy, since Hawking is so smart, what if after he loses his ability to communicate with us entirely and has no way of saying his ideas, he's trapped in his thoughts for so long what if he thinks of some incredible formula or theory that explains some huge mystery, but he just can't tell us
[QUOTE=luverofJ!93;36766169]I've always thought it would be crazy, since Hawking is so smart, what if after he loses his ability to communicate with us entirely and has no way of saying his ideas, he's trapped in his thoughts for so long what if he thinks of some incredible formula or theory that explains some huge mystery, but he just can't tell us[/QUOTE] What if he self-engineers his own brain to be able to communicate again after a long time of being trapped?
[QUOTE=D3TBS;36765334]the iBrain? is it from Apple?[/QUOTE] Wouldn't be surprised if they tried to patent it at some point.
Must have been scary for Hawking before this, knowing that at any moment his cheek could stop responding and he would be completely unable to communicate. Hopefully this will be up and running soon.
iBrain? Have companies completely lost the ability to come up with even a remotely good name?
[QUOTE=uzikus;36765413]Scientists should make an life-extending machine for him, like the one Mr. House has.[/QUOTE] Like that fictional one a fictional character from a work of fiction has
[IMG]http://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/futurama/e/ed/Hawking.jpg[/IMG] I'm calling it right now.
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