Can you control a Robot with your Thoughts?

For the physically disabled it is quite difficult to get anything done by themselves in their daily routine. There have been various science projects that have tried to work out a personal robotic helper for the handicapped. These were given set programming and followed a specific order.

This means that if a new situation which is not programmed comes up the robot becomes useless. Now all that is about to change. With the help of a project called ROBODANCE 5 Robert Oschler hopes to build a robot that can be told by the patient exactly what to do. The robot will be able to read facial movements, jaw clenches, and track eye movements.

All this visual data is fed into what is called the Emotiv system. Now while it is not strictly reading a thought right out of the brain, it is quite close. If the robot can interpret the new data and take actions accordingly it is a major step above and beyond what a programmed robot was able to do in the past.

There are also some science projects on robotics which are currently working on getting the robots into the area of mind reading. Kinesics and Synchronization in Personal Assistant Robotics or KASPAR is one such robot that is making headway in the field.