Controlling devices as one thinks has always been a dream for men and scientists are working on it. Controlling small moves and using various methods researchers have been successful controlling the primary motion of a robot but this thing is going to do a real help.

NO MORE JOY-STICKS!!!

Now severely disabled people don’t have to steer their chair using a paddle or even a joystick, they just have to think in what way they want to go….
Scientists and researchers at the University of Zaragoza in Spain have made a prototype of a wheel-chair which has a laptop infront of the user with a 3D image of the surroundings and studies the EEG waves from the helmet of the user and commands the controlling mechanism to do the specified maneuver. The 3D image is formed using a laser scanner. A blue dots constantly jumps on the screen and when it reaches the desired location mind waves of the user change which are detected by the helmet.
The wheel-chair does the rest of the task. It has further sensors to track and sense obstructions and map to reach the desired place.

This machine still has drawbacks that its a prototype and cant be used continuously because the gel int the helmet starts to get dry in 2 hours.
The real thing is that its experiments and trials have been in public not like those done by Honda in solitary. And according to Dr Javier Minguez, who developed the chair at the University of Zaragoza in Spain people need only 45 minutes to train their brain to control this vehicle successfully. The researchers have made a study by choosing 5 volunteers which is going to be presented in  International Robotics and Automation Conference later this month.

Same type of work is being done by Ambient as you can see from the video…

This is indeed a development since it is doing realtime stuff not the stuff like controlling the lighting in a room or moving a cursor on computer screen. It is doing a real help!!!!

Originally posted 2009-05-03 16:46:09. Republished by Old Post Promoter