‘Mind Pilots’ Steer Plane Simulator with Thoughts Alone
May 28th, 2014I like the one from a decade ago about the chunk of rat brain that flew the F22 simulator:
Scientists have grown a living “brain” that sits inside a petri dish and can fly a simulated F-22 fighter aircraft.
The brainchild of Thomas DeMarse, a biomedical engineer at the University of Florida in Gainesville, the “brain in a dish” is a collection of 25,000 neurons taken from the brain of a rat that are connected to a computer via 60 electrodes.
Via: CNET:
New research out of the Technische Universität München (TUM) in Germany is hinting that mind control might soon reach entirely new heights — even by us non-mutants. They’ve demonstrated that pilots might be able to fly planes through the sky using their thoughts alone.
The researchers hooked study participants to a cap containing dozens of electroencephalography (EEG) electrodes, sat them down in a flight simulator, and told them to steer the plane through the sim using their thoughts alone. The cap read the electrical signals from their brains and an algorithm then translated those signals into computer commands.
Seven people underwent the experiment and, according to the researchers, all were able to pilot the plane using their thoughts to such a degree that their performance could have satisfied some of the criteria for getting a pilot’s license.
What’s more, the study participants weren’t all pilots and had varying levels of flight experience. One had no cockpit experience at all.
Interesting and scary progress on mind over matter interface. But that old rat brain story is news; bad news. Christ, now I’m picturing autonomous rat-brained eyeborg drones…