What: Russian researchers have developed a method of reconstructing people’s thoughts in real time by scanning their brainwaves.
The researchers who published their findings in this paper have been able to recreate people’s brainwaves in the form of actual images.
How: The scientists from Russian neurophysiology and robotics company Neurobotics and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, used EEG to scan and analyze subjects’ brainwaves while the latter were watching videos. They then used neural networks to reproduce and categorize brain activity as images.
This allows for a non-invasive way of recording brain activity via electrodes. This is unlike other types of brain-computer interface (BCI) in the labs, like Elon Musk’s Neuralink, which “face the challenges of complex surgery and rapid deterioration due to natural processes ”, the researchers said.
Why it matters: The method could potentially help post-stroke patients control exoskeleton arms, and help paraplegics drive electric wheelchairs.
It could also one day help us control our phones and smart devices.
See the system in action here
