Humans can now control SWARMS of robots using the power of their MIND
Scientists were looking for ways to help those with disability or paralysis, but found an incredible innovation that could be used in futuristic battles
HUMANS can now control swarms of robots using just their thoughts and eye movements.
In an incredible feat for science, a human has successfully guided a collection of robots using just their brain power.
Scientists successfully made a group of three robots move in sync using a sensor-packed electroencephalogram (EEG) headset.
EEGs pick up brain activity and can tell when you're thinking.
The headset monitors the scalp for any fluctuations – which come about when you are in deep concentration or move your eyes, for example.
Using a computer programme, the robots will move whenever it is prompted by the movement detected by the headset.
So when the person wearing it thinks hard, or moves their eyes, the robots will move.
Boston University academics Aamodg Suresh and Max Schwager said their success will help advances in technology for people suffering from paralysis or locked-in syndromes like motor neuron disease or ALS.
They successfully managed to move the robots using human thoughts during a trial in Boston University and also managed to move 128 robots in a computer simulation.
But there’s more work to be done, they concluded.
Their research paper, titled Brain-Swarm Interface (BSI): Controlling a Swarm of Robots with Brain and Eye Signals from an EEG Headset, stated: "We successfully navigate a robot swarm in simulation and experiment on a given path.
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"The techniques developed in this paper are a proof of concept to demonstrate that a swarm of robots can be controlled by the thoughts and eye movements of a human user.
"These techniques can be applied to create an intuitive interface especially for people to control multiple objects in their environment simultaneously.
"However, there is significant room for improvement. In the future we plan to develop a richer algorithm that can detect a larger range of user intentions for the swarm, including the ability to induce a range of different shapes and motions."
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