Toy helicopter guided by power of thought (Nature News & Comment)

Posted on: Wed, 06/05/2013 - 10:40 By: Tom Swiss

While this has wonderful applications in prosthetics, all I can think about is the cheesy 80s movie Firefox, where Clint Eastwood plays a pilot/spy who steals a Soviet stealth fighter that's controlled by thought.

Toy helicopter guided by power of thought (Nature News & Comment)

A model helicopter can now be steered through an obstacle course by thought alone, researchers report today in the Journal of Neural Engineering. The aircraft's pilot operates it remotely using a cap of electrodes to detect brainwaves that are translated into commands.1

Ultimately, the developers of the mind-controlled copter hope to adapt their technology for directing artificial robotic limbs and other medical devices. Today's best neural prosthetics require electrodes to be implanted in the body and are thus reserved for quadriplegics and others with disabilities severe enough justify invasive surgery.