September 1, 2006
1 min read
Add Us On GoogleAdd SciAmThinking of Child's Play
Brain-machine interface turns robots into gamers
By Tim Hornyak
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
As a time-honored way to make decisions in Japan, adults often resort to janken, a local version of the child's game of rock, paper, scissors. Japanese scientists have developed a new twist on this tradition, a machine that can read minds and then form the "weapon" of choice on a mechanical hand--in effect, a mind-controlled robot.
The joint project by Kyoto-based Advanced Telecommunications Research (ATR) Institute International and Honda Research Institute Japan is a novel "brain-machine interface." In the ATR-Honda approach, demonstrated this past May, a subject in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine forms the rock, paper or scissors with his hand. A machine-learning algorithm analyzes the fMRI data on changes in blood flow connected with neural activity in the motor cortex. The decoded data are transmitted to the robot hand, which reproduces the choice within about seven seconds and with 85 percent accuracy.
It’s Time to Stand Up for Science
If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.
I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.
If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.
In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can't-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world's best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.
There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.
