Just a month after Elon Musk announced his first patient for the Neuralink brain implant, another news story has resurfaced in the headlines about the remarkable capabilities when you put a human brain with technology.
Arnav Kapur from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has created a device, called AlterEgo, that allows us to control machines using just our minds.
AlterEgo was developed by the Delhi-born student to help those with speech difficulties, including people suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and multiple sclerosis, to communicate with their minds.
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The device works by recording a signal when the user hears or thinks of a certain word or phrase. This information is then sent to technologically advanced machines which use the internet to find the answer.
Essentially, tech users can Google search with their minds which is crazy!
'This enables a human-computer interaction that is subjectively experienced as completely internal to the human user—like speaking to one's self,' the MIT Media Lab explained.
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'... This enables a user to transmit and receive streams of information to and from a computing device or any other person without any observable action, in discretion, without unplugging the user from her environment, without invading the user's privacy.'
The headset is able to detect the brain signals via powerful sensors. It's like talking to yourself but in your head, you can still form sentences and imagine pictures.
According to MIT Media Lab: 'Your internal speech muscles like your tongue are vibrating in accordance with the words you’re thinking in ways that are very subtle and almost undetectable.'
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'It’s one of the most complex motor tasks we do as humans,' Kapur added.
The AI-powered headset was first showcased at TED 2019 in Vancouver, amazing the audience with its capabilities.
This is just one of Kapur's ambitious projects that he has going on.
According to MIT, Arnav also plans to construct a 3D printed drone, a platform to measure gene expressions at a large scale, along with a device that helps to facilitate the visually impaired.
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'He has also worked on a lunar rover that is intended to land on the moon and relay pictures back to Earth. In addition, Arnav co-developed a new age art installation that has been on display at the Tate Modern in London and at the alt-AI conference in New York,' a report from MIT stated.