Science Fiction? No, Mind-Controlled Robots are Truly Here!

Mind-controlled robots are now going to become a reality!

Advanced humanoid robots are created using state-of-art technologies that make them perform tasks, behave, and think as humans do. Nowadays, it has become almost inevitable to read the newspapers without reading about new advanced robotic developments. Human beings regard such human-like robots in such high esteem that they are being awarded citizenship, like the humanoid robot Sophia, who has received citizenship from Saudi Arabia. The emergence of such advanced robots is on the rise. And now scientists and researchers have their hands full with the creation of mind-controlled robots!

The idea behind the creation of mind-controlled robots was to enable tetraplegic patients to carry out more tasks on their own. Such patients become caged in their own bodies, with the inability to speak or perform the slightest movement. So, researchers have been working for years on such systems and robots that can empower tetraplegic patients and help them carry out activities on their own. Several researchers teamed up to develop a machine learning program that can be connected to a brain to control and command these robots.

How do they work?

To develop their system, the researchers started building a robotic arm that was developed years ago. The arm can bend back and forth and left to right, in order to reposition objects in front of it and around its path. The developers started by improving the robot's mechanisms for avoiding obstacles so that it can follow the commands more accurately. This included developing an algorithm that can adjust the robot's movements according to the patient's thoughts and needs.

To make the robot work all that the patient needs to do is look at the robot. If the robot makes the wrong move, the patient's thoughts will emit an error message and then guide the robot in the right direction or perform a task in the right way.

In the near future, the researchers aim to develop a robotic, mind-controlled wheelchair with the help of the same algorithm that can read several kinds of signals and coordinate data received from the brain for movements.