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University of Minnesota

Scientists control helicopter - using only their minds

Next stop: hoverboards (possibly).

IF YOU EVER spent hours as a kid trying to move a pencil or a book in your bedroom using only your thoughts, prepare to have your mind blown.

Researchers at a US university have managed to move a robot helicopter using only their mind in the first successful study of its kind.

Five researchers were each able to control the four blade flying robot – known as a quadcopter – quickly and accurately for a sustained period of time while wearing a skull cap.  The skull cap recorded electrical activity in the brain through 64 electrodes.

“It’s completely noninvasive. Nobody has to have a chip implanted in their brain to pick up on the neuronal activity,” said Karl LaFleur, one of the authors of the study, which has been published in the Journal of Neural Engineering.

The team of biomedical engineers at the University of Minnesota say that aside from the obvious implications for fun, the flying robot could potentially help people who are paralysed or have diseases which affect their cognitive functions.

“We envision that they’ll be able to use this technology to control wheelchairs, artificial limbs or other devices,” said Bin He, a professor at the University of Minnesota and lead author of the study.

The team said that the brain-controlled robot was possible due to the motor cortex – the area of the brain that governs movement and which produces tiny electric currents when we move or think about moving. During the study, subjects had to fly the quadcopter through two large rings after going through some preliminary training sessions.

Bin He said that the study had the potential to help many people.

“It may even help patients with conditions like autism or Alzheimer’s disease or help stroke victims recover,” he said. “We’re now studying some stroke patients to see if it’ll help rewire brain circuits to bypass damaged areas.”

(Video: UniversityofMinn/YouTube)

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    Mute Catherine Harris
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    Aug 3rd 2017, 7:57 AM

    Good article and great stories, once you get the hang of breastfeeding (with the right support and encouragement) it’s an amazing experience.

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    Mute Niamh Ní Caiside
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    Aug 3rd 2017, 8:47 AM

    Great stories. The bigger they get the funnier it can be

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    Mute A H
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    Aug 3rd 2017, 9:35 AM

    @Niamh Ní Caiside: what the kids or the boobs?

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    Mute Abby McSherry
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    Aug 3rd 2017, 5:25 PM

    so familiar – just a bit of advice don’t attend a job interview 10 weeks after giving birth and have the baby looked after just outside the door! the first cry and the shirt was soaked. the guys interviewing me didn’t know where to look! I did get the job though and pumped and fed through the next two years

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    Mute Jennifer Hickey
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    Aug 3rd 2017, 4:29 PM

    Loved this!! Great read! ☺

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    Mute marian doherty
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    Aug 3rd 2017, 11:50 AM

    Leaving my boob out has happened so many times I’ve lost count

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