Blog: Mind-Controlled Robotic Limbs Become the Ants-Pants

Mind-Controlled Robotic Limbs Become the Ants-Pants
Computerworld Australia (12/10/08) Edwards, Katheryn

University of Technology Sydney (UTS) researchers have developed prosthetic limbs that respond to brain signals by mimicking the nonelectric signals used by the central nervous system to control muscle activity. Artificial intelligence researchers used the complex interactions between ants to develop a pattern recognition formula to identify bioelectric signals that can be used in human trials. The behavior of social insects such as ants helps scientists understand the body's electrical signals enabling them to create a robotic prosthesis that can be operated by human thought, says UTS Ph.D. student Rami Khushaba. Khushaba is developing a mathematical basis for identifying which biosignals relate to particular arm movements and where electrodes should be placed to capture those signals. Nature's abundance of swarm intelligence algorithms was a major reason for using them in the development of the prosthesis, along with their use of multi-agent techniques to solve specific problems. "We can use the behavior of the ants to enhance the quality of the control systems that we employ with the robotic limbs," Khushaba says. The researchers create a map of the voluntary intent of the central nervous system by attaching sensors to the limb following an amputation to record an electromyogram. Only a few seconds of data is needed to train the system to identify patterns in the raw data during the online testing phase. Khushaba says the biggest challenge to the system's success will be maintaining speed and accuracy.

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