Carbon Microthread Connects Brain to Machine
With everybody constantly on their phones, the emergence of the Internet of Things and augmented reality, ubiquitous computing does not seem all that far-fetched anymore. This leads to the question of how we will interface with our smart cars, our smart homes and our domestic robots. Will we hunch over tablets to control the sound and lighting systems in the house? Make exaggerated gestures to control our motion-sensing robot? Talk to our smart albeit inanimate car? Or will we take out the middle man and interface with our smart environment directly with our brain?
Researchers of the University of Pittsburg are aiming for the latter. They’ve created an ultrathin electrode that can be implanted in the brain to record the electrical signals transmitted by neurons. The electrode converts the brain signals into machine language creating a Brain-Computer Interface.
