Changsha research team develops brain-controlled robot

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-04-20

Researchers from National University of Defense Technology test the
brain-controlled robot. (Photo/CCTV)

A Chinese research team has developed a robot whose movements can be controlled by the human brain, reports the Chinese-language Changsha Evening News.

The award-winning team of researchers at the National University of Defense Technology in Changsha, the capital of south-central China's Hunan province, recently tested the self-made brain-controlled robot, which was able to move forward and backwards and make flexible turns with its body through brainwaves sent from an electrode cap worn by the controller.

According to Jiang Jun, a doctoral student on the team, the cap strengthens weak brainwaves before sending them back to their computers, which effectively reads the mind of the controller from the brainwave signals.

"The computer will turn human thoughts into control instructions and send them back to the robot through wireless facility so that we can control it to finish the movements, including moving forward and turning left and right," he said.

The experiment has been compared to the technology in the 2009 film Avatar, in which a paraplegic marine was able to control an alien avatar body with his brain.

It is hoped that the breakthrough will eventually allow people to drive cars without using their hands and for handicapped people to control their wheelchairs with just their minds. It could also make daily life more convenient by enabling people to open doors and operate kitchen appliances without physical interaction.

"We have combined human and cars through a brain-machine interface. On the one hand, we want to develop the preciseness of computer driving. On the other, we want to include human intelligence," said Liu Yadong, an associate professor at the university, who added that brain-controlled weapons and vehicles could one day be used in war.

China will continue to explore the power of the brain in the future after the "China Brain Project" received approval from the State Council. The project's three main aims are to learn how to better understand, protect and simulate the brain.