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Monkeys Control Robot Legs - With Their Minds (Video)

by Terrence O'Brien on February 26, 2008 at 05:07 PM


The scientists at Duke University must be stopped! Researchers have created an unholy alliance, bringing together the two biggest threats to human dominance of the planet Earth (outside ourselves) -- monkeys and robots.

The researchers' motivations are innocent, however. The scientists put electrodes in the brains of two rhesus monkeys then stuck them on a tread mill. Wait -- this gets better. The electrodes were then connected to a pair of robotic legs that moved as the monkeys thought about walking. Even when the treadmills stopped the monkeys were able to keep the robotic legs in motion for several minutes with just the power of their minds.

While this may sound like the plot of a Sci-Fi film about science gone awry, the research is actually aimed at restoring mobility to those who suffer paralysis. By understanding how the brain controls legs, researchers hope to develop robotic leg braces that humans will be able to control with their minds.

A noble cause, but we're still gonna have nightmares about bionic chimps.

From TechDigest

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Tags: bionic, breaking+news, medical, monkeys, research, robots, science, top

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