Chinese scientists command pigeons via remote control

[stefan]

Chinese scientists command pigeons via remote control


BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- Scientists in eastern China say they have succeeded in controlling the flight of pigeons with micro electrodes planted in their brains, state media reported on Tuesday.

Scientists at the Robot Engineering Technology Research Centre at Shandong University of Science and Technology said their electrodes could command them to fly right or left or up or down, Xinhua news agency said.

"The implants stimulate different areas of the pigeon's brain, according to signals sent by the scientists via computer and force the bird to comply with their commands," Xinhua said.

"It's the first such successful experiment on a pigeon in the world," Xinhua quoted the center's chief scientist, Su Xuecheng, as saying.

Su and his colleagues, who Xinhua said had had similar success with mice in 2005, were improving the devices used in the experiment and hoped that the technology could be put into practical use in future.

The report did not specify what practical uses the scientists saw for the remote-controlled pigeons.

Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[DiscGo]

The human implant can't be far to follow.

[stefan]

The human implant can't be far to follow.

there are already human implants which can manage with neural explosion associated with epilepsy ... but it's a long way off for anything serious like a prosthesis for vision.

on the other hand, they have learned how to interpret the motor and, separately, the decision signals of the monkey brain to control the movement of a cursor on a television screen. they train the monkey to following the target with a joy stick. once it's trained, they can remove the joy stick and use these motor/decision signals, interpreted by a computer, to move the cursor on the screen. within a very short period of time, the monkey learns how to perform the task just as well, simply with its mind.

[DiscGo]

Did you hear last month about the machine that is able to detect a person's brain waves to see if they are racist? It was 100% perfect but the results were overwhelming.

[Sombeech]

What's the red button for?

Oh, that. Sorry, guy! That'll wash right out.

[nefarious]

... but it's a long way off for anything serious like a prosthesis for vision.

That's a job for Mr. Tongue!



And they say "English" don't know how to use tongues, hah!

[DiscGo]

That video is amazing! Have you guys seen the new prosthetic arms that are mechanical?

[nefarious]

Awesome. It will make all the difference if they can supply some sort of nerve impulses from the prothesis.