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Researchers from the lab of biomedical engineering professor Bin He of the University of Minnesota's College of Science and Engineering demonstrate a new noninvasive system that allows people to control a flying robot using only their mind. Working in He's lab (He pioneered the new technology), the researchers learned to use their thoughts to steer the robot around a gym, making it turn, rise, dip and even sail through a ring.
The technology may one day enable people who have lost speech and mobility due to neurodegenerative diseases to regain function by controlling artificial limbs, wheelchairs or other devices using only their mind. The technology is completely noninvasive. Brain waves (EEG) are picked up by the electrodes of an EEG cap on the scalp, not a chip implanted in the brain.Image credit: University of Minnesota
