ASU researcher creates system to control robots with the brain
A researcher at Arizona State University has discovered how to control multiple robotic drones using the human brain.
A controller wears a skull cap outfitted with 128 electrodes wired to a computer. The device records electrical brain activity. If the controller moves a hand or thinks of something, certain areas light up.
“I can see that activity from outside,” said Panagiotis Artemiadis (pictured above), director of the Human-Oriented Robotics and Control Lab and an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. “Our goal is to decode that activity to control variables for the robots.”
If the user is thinking about decreasing cohesion between the drones — spreading them out, in other words — “we know what part of the brain controls that thought,” Artemiadis said.
A wireless system sends the thought to the robots. “We have a motion-capture system that knows where the quads are, and we change their distance, and that’s it,” he said.
Up to four small robots, some of which fly, can be controlled with brain interfaces. Joysticks don’t work, because they can only control one craft at a time.
“You can’t do something collectively” with a joystick, Artemiadis said. “If you want to swarm around an area and guard that area, you cannot do that.”
To make them move, the controller watches on a monitor and thinks and pictures the drones performing various tasks.
Artemiadis has been working on the brain-to-machine interface since he earned his doctorate in 2009, specifically neural interfaces with robot hands and arms.
“During the last two to three decades there has been a lot of research on single brain/machine interface, where you control a single machine,” he said.
A few years ago, he had the idea to go to a lot of machines. It’s part of a trend in robotics and space exploration: Instead of building one giant expensive machine or plane or spacecraft, researchers build a lot of little cheap ones.
“If you lose half of them, it doesn’t really matter,” Artemiadis said.
He already knew what area of the brain controlled what motions. One discovery jumped out at him.
“I was surprised the brain cares about swarms and collective behaviors,” he said.
“What I didn’t know — or hypothesized — is that the brain cares about things we are not doing ourselves,” he added. “We don’t have a swarm we control. We have hands and limbs and all that stuff, but we don’t control swarms.”
In other words, our brains are not used to all of our fingers and toes running off on their own and then returning.
“I was surprised the brain cares about that, and that the brain can adapt,” he said.
He worked with Air Force pilots on this; the two-year project was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense and the Air Force. The pilots were skeptical. Their main objection was what would happen if they thought of something else while controlling the drones.
Artemiadis said controllers have to stay focused. If it’s close to lunch and all you can think about it is pizza, it doesn’t work. Fatigue and stress also play a part. Artemiadis said he can tell when subjects are tired or need a break.
“We tell the subject to think of two things,” he said. “Focus on breathing, or we tell them to imagine closing their left hand into a fist.”
Each subject is different. The system has to be calibrated to individual controllers, and it has to be done every day, because brain signals change from day to day.
The next step in Artemiadis’ research is multiple people controlling multiple robots. He plans to move to a much larger experimental space to refine the proof of concept. In the future, he sees drone swarms performing complex operations, such as search-and-rescue missions.
Learn more: ASU researcher creates system to control robots with the brain
The Latest on: Controlling multiple robot drones with the brain
via Google News
The Latest on: Controlling multiple robot drones with the brain
- A Pi Robot Without A Haton August 6, 2022 at 4:59 pm
Well, most of the time they are until challenges arise trying to stack multiple boards ... installed on my robot is the Mini Maestro 18. The Maestro provides control over the servo speed ...
- OpenMower: Open Source Robotic Lawn Mower With RTK GPSon August 5, 2022 at 5:00 pm
[Clemens Elflein] has taken a cheap, dumb mower and given it a brain ... time control side of things. [Clemens] is calling this OpenMower, with the motivation to create an open source robot ...
- This Self-Aware Robot Taught Itself How to Control Its Own Bodyon August 3, 2022 at 6:01 pm
Roboticists from the nation’s top universities recently created a self-aware mechanical arm that taught itself how to move. “The idea is that robots need to take care of themselves,” says Boyuan Chen, ...
- Everything DARPA's Been Doing for the Last 20 Yearson August 3, 2022 at 9:28 am
While sorting through its most societally significant breakthroughs, Gizmodo spoke to multiple ... drones ostensibly intended for aerial surveillance. In her 2015 book, The Pentagon’s Brain ...
- How Drones are Changing EHS Remediationon August 3, 2022 at 8:16 am
Technology is always evolving, and now drones are one of the next big things. Not only can they be used for personal photo and video taking, but they can also be used professionally in a variety ...
- Using AI to train teams of robots to work togetheron July 24, 2022 at 5:00 pm
Researchers have developed a method to train multiple agents such as robots or drones to work together ... traffic signal control, autonomous vehicles coordinating deliveries, or controlling ...
- Drones Provide Special Sight with HS Camera Techon July 21, 2022 at 5:00 pm
The great forest fires consuming the western half of the U.S. have spawned interest in the use of drone technology to help fight and ... but measure the color information in much more detail. Multiple ...
- Drone Technology Evolves for the Construction Industryon July 21, 2022 at 5:00 pm
“Some of our customers even fly multiple times a day because their sites evolve so quickly.” The team at Skycatch said the greatest benefits they have found from drones in construction include: ...
- Microsoft Offers to Train Autonomous Drones in Virtual Worldson July 18, 2022 at 4:24 am
Microsoft is offering to train autonomous drones before their first real flight by using millions of practice flights and scenarios in a virtual world. The platform is called Project AirSim and it ...
- Best Drones for Kids in 2022on July 16, 2022 at 5:00 pm
Any drone novice with dreams of becoming a drone pro will love the grown-up handling, multiple features, and aesthetics of the Ryze Tello quadcopter. The world of remote-controlled quadcopters ...
via Bing News