This is the tech I admire most. Its also the tech I kind of fear most.

Two participants in a trial of robotics and brain chip implants have successfully shown their ability to control an object with just their thoughts according to Nature magazine.

One participant, who was paralysed from a stroke 15 years ago, managed to control a robotic arm to lift a cup and give herself a drink. Amazing considering this was done because of a few hair-like electrodes implanted into the cortex of her brain.

A computer recognizes her thought pulses and converts them to digital commands. Dont get too excited though. Its early days yet and during the trials one participant had a 64% success rate lifting items, and the other lifted a cup four out of six times. Whilst still under development, this has amazing implications for restoring movement and assisting Tetraplegics such as the two volunteers.

Did anyone ever see Jean Claude Van Damme in Universal Soldier. The busted real-life soldiers were given almost super-human powers by having limbs, and parts of their heads replaced with implants and robotics. One’s imagination goes rife, when these sorts of developments arise and the possibilities in any situation or scenario come to mind. I’m not going to give examples etc. otherwise I would risk one of those chicken and egg type blogs and the positives of this scientific breakthrough might be diluted somewhat.

Needless to say I’m over the moon for the future of people who have disabilities. I even see benefits in the future for people using this type of technology to maintain their own independent living ability. This could realise real savings to society in money and resources poured into support services. See, there I go, the possibilities are endless. This IS where tech makes life good.

What positive things could you do with thought controlled robotics? What do you think might be a negative? If you have anything you would like to discuss regarding the pro’s and con’s of computer chip implants and thought controlled robotics, send me an email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and I will actually consider a separate blog on the subject.

Cheers for now

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