Professor of biomedical engineering Joe Francis is reporting work that represents a significant step forward for prosthetics that perform more naturally.
Findings Could Help Seamlessly Integrate Prosthetics
A University of Houston engineer is reporting in eNeuro that a brain-computer interface, a form of artificial intelligence, can sense when its user is expecting a reward by examining the interactions between single-neuron activities and the information flowing to these neurons, called the local field potential.
Professor of biomedical engineering Joe Francis reports his team’s findings allow for the development of an autonomously updating brain-computer interface (BCI) that improves on its own, learning about its subject without having to be programed.
The findings potentially have applications for robotic prosthetics, which would sense what a user wants to do (pick up a glass, for example) and do it. The work represents a significant step forward for prosthetics that perform more naturally.
“This will help prosthetics work the way the user wants them to,” said Francis. “The BCI quickly interprets what you’re going to do and what you expect as far as whether the outcome will be good or bad.” Francis said that information drives scientists’ abilities to predict reward outcome to 97%, up from the mid-70s.
To understand the effects of reward on the brain’s primary motor cortex activity, Francis used implanted electrodes to investigate brainwaves and spikes in brain activity while tasks were performed to see how interactions are modulated by conditioned reward expectations.
“We assume intention is in there, and we decode that information by an algorithm and have it control either a computer cursor, for example, or a robotic arm,” said Francis. Interestingly even when the task called for no movement, just passively observing an activity, the BCI was able to determine intention because the pattern of neural activity resembled that during movement.
“This is important because we are going to have to extract this information and brain activity out of people who cannot actually move, so this is our way of showing we can still get the information even if there is no movement,” said Francis. This process utilizes mirror neurons, which fire when action is taken and action is observed.
“This examination of reward motivation in the primary motor cortex could be useful in developing an autonomously updating brain machine interface,” said Francis.
Learn more: Research Moves Closer to Brain-Machine Interface Autonomy
The Latest on: AI brain-computer interface
via Google News
The Latest on: AI brain-computer interface
- Mind-reading A.I. analyzes your brain waves to guess what video you’re watchingon November 27, 2019 at 9:08 am
But engineers at Russian robotics research company Neurobotics Lab have shown that artificial intelligence really can be trained to read minds — and ... This could make it more practical in real-world ...
- Online asynchronous decoding of error-related potentials during the continuous control of a roboton November 26, 2019 at 2:18 am
Therefore, the detection of ErrPs is an intuitive approach to improve the performance of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs ... In Proceedings of the 19th International Joint Conference on Artificial ...
- $106M Weill Family Foundation Gift Opens Research Network to Advance Neuroscienceon November 22, 2019 at 4:00 am
including artificial intelligence, engineering and data science. “The gains in knowledge amassed by neuroscientists over the past few decades can now be brought to the next level with supercomputers, ...
- The AI Eye: Apple and Salesforce Launch AI-Powered App, Intel Unveils oneAPIon November 18, 2019 at 9:37 am
ranging from robotics to smart manufacturing to brain-computer interfaces. Edy Liongosari, chief research scientist at Accenture Labs, explained: "As artificial intelligence continues to permeate our ...
- New heights for artificial intelligenceon November 13, 2019 at 1:42 pm
A robotic system with efficient autonomous control would greatly improve performance and safety, and has been the goal of a team led by Fang Yongchun, the dean of Nankai’s College of Artificial ...
- What is BCI? Everything you need to know about brain-computer interfaces and the future of mind-reading computerson November 13, 2019 at 3:33 am
Brain-computer interfaces aren't really something that people are ... claiming that Neuralink could be used to allow humans a direct interface with artificial intelligence, so that humans are not ...
- 2 Connections That Will Unleash a Flood of Human Capitalon November 8, 2019 at 6:00 am
The goal of “neuro-prosthetics” or “brain-computer interfaces,” as Johnson explains, “is not about AI versus human. Rather, it’s about creating HI, or ‘human intelligence,’ the merger of humans and AI ...
- Brain-computer interface: Tech merging man and machine will 'work at the speed of thought'on November 4, 2019 at 11:01 pm
“I think humanity’s next evolution really does involve technology, where we use AI as a benefit to advance our learning, to enhance our memories and share empathy. “With brain-computer interface, I ...
- Brain-Computer Interfaces And Mind Control Move One Step Closer To Becoming Realityon September 24, 2019 at 7:37 am
Brain-computer interfaces will initially be used for assistive purposes ... with his ultimate goal being the construction of a "digital superintelligence layer" to connect humans with AI systems.
- Brain-computer interface: huge potential benefits and formidable challengeson September 10, 2019 at 9:18 pm
Installing an AI layer would be a good way to stay in step with AI ... clear that we have not even scratched the surface of the potential applications of brain-computer interfaces (BCI), which could ...
via Bing News