2. Brain-controlled robots read your mind to correct errors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and Boston University have developed a system that allows humans to direct and correct robots using only their brains.
The system uses an electroencephalography (EEG) monitor to record brain activity that the system can detect when the user notices that there was an error in a robot’s object-sorting task. The machine-learning algorithms allow the system to sort brain waves in 10 to 30 milliseconds.
Other EEG-based robots require the user to look at a computer screen to get the robot to perform desired actions. MIT reports that the training process and controlling the user’s thoughts can be more demanding than necessary, especially for people who have to supervise navigation or construction tasks when they’re supposed to be concentrating.
The research team wanted to address that problem by making the process seem more natural and use the brain signals called error-related potentials (ErrPs). These signals are created when the brain sees a mistake. When the robot wants to make a move, the system uses the ErrPs to see if the user agrees with the move.
Read more about the mistake-fixing robot.