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Robots can read your mind

06.07.2018

With the help of a new robot control system, a human can prevent a machine error and redirect it using brainwaves and simple gestures. People who control robots in factories, homes or hospitals will be able to use the installation.

MIT AI specialist Daniela Rus and her colleagues tested the system with seven volunteers. Each user controlled a robot that moved the drill to one of three possible targets, indicated by an LED light on the model aircraft's fuselage. Whenever the robot started moving towards the wrong target, the error signal from the user would stop it. And when the user turned their wrist left or right to redirect the robot, the machine moved towards the corresponding target. Out of more than 1000 trials, the robot initially selected the correct target about 70% of the time, and after human intervention, more than 97% of the time.

The team plans to create a system version that recognizes a wider range of human movements. In this way, "you can show how the robot should move, and your movement can be interpreted more quickly," says study co-author Joseph Del Preto, also an artificial intelligence specialist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Commands through the brain and muscle activity can work particularly well in noisy or poorly lit environments, such as factories or outdoor venues. In such areas, other means to manually control robots, such as visual cues or verbal instructions, may not work, says Alexander Barachant, a researcher at New York-based startup CTRL-Labs. This method can also be used by people who cannot speak or move, such as patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Moreover, the system is able to correct robot errors almost instantly. The potentials associated with errors in the brain are noticeable several hundred milliseconds after a person notices an error, and muscle electrical signals can be detected even before the actual movement, Barachant explained. This feature can be useful in situations where responsiveness is very important for the safety of the robot and other people - both for unmanned vehicles and production machines.

For this system to be widely used, equipment that tracks users' brain activity needs to be more widely available than it is now. This mind control device can cost thousands of dollars, and electrode caps are hardly the most comfortable headgear. But if researchers could measure the brain signals with cheaper and more comfortable headsets, the system could provide a relatively quick and easy way for regular users to get the robot to fulfill their requirements.

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