FuturoProssimo
No Result
View All Result
Contact
  • Tech
  • Medicine
  • Society
  • Ambience
  • Spazio
  • Transportation
  • concepts
  • H+
Thursday, April 22, 2021

   Coronavirus News >>

Chinese (Simplified)EnglishFrenchGermanItalianJapanesePortugueseRussianSpanish
FuturoProssimo
No Result
View All Result

Read in:
Chinese (Simplified)EnglishFrenchGermanItalianJapanesePortugueseRussianSpanish

January 3 2021

Robotics and neuroscience find meeting points

Gianluca Ricciodi Gianluca Riccio
in Robotica
Send to FacebookPin on PinterestSend on TwitterSend on Whatsappon Linkedin
Robotics and neuroscience find meeting points

Robotics and neuroscience are made to meet: if the brain considers the machine an extension of the physical body, the possibilities will be endless.

By training a paraplegic patient with an exoskeleton in his office as part of the “Walk Again” project, Prof. Gordon Cheng (Institute of Cognitive Systems, ICS, Germany) was surprised. Patients regained some degree of control over leg movement. Not a small surprise.

It was 2016, and it was just the beginning. Four years later, none of those patients is still able to walk freely and unaided, but the road has been drawn. Robotics can not only help people with disabilities, but can even aid the healing process.

Man has seen in robotics and neuroscience two points of what could be a single iceberg underwater.

Maybe you are also interested

2020 for neuroscience, longevity and AI, is the year to come

Co-Limbs, two more arms that collaborate with us

To develop better medical devices, we need to dig deeper to understand how the brain works and how to translate it into the language of robotics.

Close the circuit between the brain and the machine

In their article published in "Science Robotics" this month, Cheng and his colleague Prof. Nicolelis, one of the leading experts in neuroscience and in particular in the area of ​​human-machine interface, argue that some key challenges need to be overcome to move towards the fusion of neuroscience and robotics. One of these is "closing the circuit between the brain and the machine".

What do they mean by this?

The idea is that the coupling between the brain and the machine will work if the brain thinks of the machine as an extension of the body.

Let's take the guide as an example. While driving a car, we don't constantly think about our actions, do we? But we still don't know how it really works.

Well, the theory of the two scholars is that the brain somehow adapts to the car just as if it were an extension of the body. With this general idea in mind, it would be great to have an exoskeleton viewed by the brain in the same way.

How can this be achieved in practice?

The exoskeleton that Cheng has used for his research so far is actually just a large piece of metal, rather bulky for the wearer.

It will be necessary to develop a “soft” exoskeleton, something to be worn simply as a piece of clothing that can both perceive the user's movement intentions and provide instant feedback.

Recent advances in brain-machine interfaces would allow the seamless adaptation of such exoskeletons to the needs of individual users. Given recent technological advances and a better understanding of how decode the user's momentary brain activity, the time is ripe for their integration into more human-centered or, better, brain-centered solutions.

What else would be missing? A more realistic functional model for both disciplines.

To lower the threshold of robotics and promote its use in neuroscience, robots are therefore needed that are closer to human structure and behavior. This is why we need more realistic functional models, which means robots should be able to mimic human characteristics.

Robotics and neuroscience
Some "soft" robots with "skin" capable of providing feedback more similar to human ones

Let's take the example of humanoid robots powered by artificial muscles, or provided with "skin", such as those that Cheng has been experimenting for years. This natural muscle-mimicking construction instead of traditional motorized activation would provide neuroscientists with a more realistic model for their studies.

It is one of many possible examples of win-win situations that will facilitate better cooperation between neuroscience and robotics in the future.

Neuroscience and robotics: a task force

Cheng and Nicolelis are not alone in the mission to overcome these challenges. In Germany a first and only of its kind Elite Graduate in Neuroengineering program combines experimental and theoretical neuroscience with in-depth engineering training, and brings together the best students in the field.

Versatility training will be a crucial factor. Combining the two disciplines of robotics and neuroscience is a difficult exercise, which is why we need to teach students to think broadly and transversely, to find unimaginable solutions.

The future starts with a new scientific community and a new culture in the field of engineering and robotics.

This is where robotics and neuroscience meet underwater, the two tips of the same iceberg.

In education.

References: Gordon Cheng, Stefan K. Ehrlich, Mikhail Lebedev, Miguel AL Nicolelis. Science Robotics, 2020; 5 (49): eabd1911 DOI: 10.1126 / scirobotics.abd1911

tags: exoskeletonsNeuroscience
Previous post

Sneci, a tiny solar-powered house sails like a fishing boat

Next article

Pat Brown: "food technology will replace the use of animals by 2035"

Collaborate!

We are open to visions about the future. Submit an article, disclose the results of a search or scientific discoveries, shows points of view on a theme, tells about a change.

Contact us

Most read of the week

  • US intelligence analyzes the future, and it doesn't look good at all

    US intelligence analyzes the future, and it doesn't look good at all

    135 shares
    Share 54 Tweet 34
  • Plastic rains, still silence from the institutions

    29 shares
    Share 11 Tweet 7
  • The whitest white paint there is is even whiter (and cools)

    28 shares
    Share 11 Tweet 7
  • Monoclonal antibodies, treatment makes teeth grow back: animal tests

    45 shares
    Share 17 Tweet 11
The last
Technology

VR Dating: Will Virtual “First Date” One Day Be Mainstream?

Ambience

In American honey there are still traces of nuclear tests from the 50s and 60s

Robotica

Barney: the robot bartender is also ready to shake cocktails

Technology

NOSEiD, the app that finds lost dogs by recognizing them by their nose

archive

Next article
Pat Brown: "food technology will replace the use of animals by 2035"

Pat Brown: "food technology will replace the use of animals by 2035"

Facebook

Instagram

Telegram

Twitter

Clubhouse

Near future

Futuroprossimo.it is an Italian futurology resource open since 2006: every day news about the near future. Scientific discoveries, medical research, prototypes, concepts and predictions about the future for free.

Tag

Ambience Architecture Club Communication concepts Advice Economy Energy Events Gadgets The future of yesterday The newspaper of tomorrow Italy Next Medicine Military Weather Robotica Society Spazio Technology transhumanism Transportation Video

The author

Gianluca Riccio, copywriter and journalist - Born in 1975, he is the creative director of an advertising agency, he is affiliated with the Italian Institute for the Future, World Future Society and H +, Network of Italian Transhumanists.

Home / Author / IDEA / archive / Promo on FP

Collaborate! Are you interested in writing a post on Futuroprossimo? Click here for contacts.

Categories

Creative Commons License
This work is distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.
© 2021 Futuroprossimo

  • Home
  • Contact
  • archive
  • Technology
  • Medicine
  • Transportation
  • Weather
  • Society
  • Ambience
  • transhumanism

© 2021 Futuroprossimo - Creative Commons License
This work is distributed under license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.

This site uses cookies. By continuing to read it, you consent to their use.