Brain Machine Interface-

Summary
THE IDEA
It all came to mind from the sci-fi movie “The Matrix”,
those rebels putting on the computer cords at the back of
the neck—probably between the occipital bone at the base
of the skull, and the first neck vertebra. The bioport
(that’s what the technology was called in movie) was a
way of giving the Matrix computers full access to the
information channels of the brain. The rebels use the
bioport to load new skills into their colleagues' brains—
writing directly into permanent memory. Making it
possible for rebels to learn things in seconds like flying a
helicopter. Think if this could materialize into reality. No
need to go to colleges just download the the whole
semester books into your brain, you could read your
favorite novels in seconds, learn “Kung-Fu”, possibilities
could be endless.

FROM VIRTUOSITY TO REALITY

Moving to reality, many researches are actually going on

to explore the possibility of the man and machine merger.

Scientists have already got some breakthroughs; Trials for

the implanted chip technology have been very successful

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for monkeys, who have learned to control a computer
game witt their brains.

Scientists are finding different ways of receiving senses

for people who have lost a sense, such as sight or touch,
they are made wear an artificial sensor. This might be a
video camera, or a touch sensitive glove. Then, electrical
pulses which encode the sense are sent to a strip on their
tongue, which initially feel like eating sherbet. Quickly,
however, the brain learns to interpret the signals correctly
- blind people can catch balls, see flickering slights and
read simple letters! They no longer notice the tingling. It
seems to be an automatic process, which the brain
somehow “rewires” to handle the new input.

REMOTE CONTROL BrainGate technology has been

designed to read brain signals associated with controlling
movement, which a computer could translate into
instructions for moving a computer cursor or controlling a
variety of assistive devices. This has helped the people
suffering from spinal cord injuries, muscular dystrophy,
brain stem stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or
Lou Gehrig's Disease), and other motor neuron diseases.

One researcher who has been studying possible

connections between silicon electronics and biological
cells for over two decades and has succeeded in making a

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neuron transistor. A connection of neuron and transistor
with possibility of sending two way signals.

On the Media and Communication front, Gamers will soon

be able to interact with the virtual world using their
thoughts and emotions alone.

A neuro-headset which interprets the interaction of

neurons in the brain will go on sale later this year. The
headset takes the signals from brain and converts them
into actions in the game. The headset implements a
technology known as non-invasive Electro
Encephalography (EEG) to read the neural activity.

THE CHALLENGES AND FUTURE IMPLICATIONS

With growing advances in this field the future looks

hopeful with researchers trying to move upwards from one
neuron communicating with one stimulator or sensor to
more complex neuro-electronic architectures, with the
distant goal of getting entire neuronal networks plugged
into electronics in a way that would allow their function to
be studied in detail or use them for computational devices.

Thus the major challenge lies in fact that wiring of the

spinal cord is basically unknown. At best, on cats,
researchers have been able to hook into their optic nerves,

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to see what a cat can see. And in blind people, we can
stimulate a handful of pixels in their brain, but that's
about it. The brain is still a black box.

But human trials of brain computer interfacing at basic

levels are around the corner.

The brain computer interfacing will become a profoundly

transforming technology by 2030. By then, nanobots
(robots the size of human blood cells or smaller, built with
key features at the multi-nanometer—billionth of a meter—
scale) will provide fully immersive, totally convincing
virtual reality in the following way. The nanobots will take
up positions in close physical proximity to every
interneuron connection coming from all of our senses
(e.g., eyes, ears, skin). We already have the technology for
electronic devices to communicate with neurons in both
directions that requires no direct physical contact with the
neurons. So behold and watch the endless possibilities
unfold in the future in front your eyes.