Swiss scientists show off ‘thought-controlled’ robot

Swiss scientists have showed off a robot that can be controlled by thought alone.

Researchers at the Federal Insitute of Technology in Lausanne said their experiment would allow disabled people to interact more easily with their surroundings.

The patient Marc Andre Duc, who had lost control of his legs and fingers, said the test was “very tiring” because you had to concentrate all the time.

He operated the robot from 100 kilometres away in the city of Sion.

Similar experiments have taken place in the United States and Germany but they either involved able-bodied patients or invasive brain implants.

The Swiss team used a head cap to record the brain signals.

The electrical signals emitted by Duc’s brain – when he imagined lifting his paralysed fingers – were decoded by a computer.

Those signals then instructed the robot to move -left or right – around the Lausanne lab.

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