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Move the train with your brain
:: 22 June, 2007
Forget the clicker: A new technology in Japan could let you control electronic devices without lifting a finger simply by reading brain activity.
The "brain-machine interface" developed by Hitachi Inc. analyzes slight changes in the brain's blood flow and translates brain motion into electric signals.
A cap connects by optical fibers to a mapping device, which links, in turn, to a toy train set via a control computer and motor during one recent demonstration at Hitachi's Advanced Research Laboratory in Hatoyama, just outside Tokyo.
"Take a deep breath and relax," said Kei Utsugi, a researcher, while demonstrating the device on Wednesday.
At his prompting, a reporter did simple calculations in her head, and the train sprang forward — apparently indicating activity in the brain's frontal cortex, which handles problem solving.
Activating that region of the brain — by doing sums or singing a song — is what makes the train run, according to Utsugi. When one stops the calculations, the train stops, too.
Underlying Hitachi's brain-machine interface is a technology called optical topography, which sends a small amount of infrared light through the brain's surface to map out changes in blood flow.
Although brain-machine interface technology has traditionally focused on medical uses, makers like Hitachi and Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co. have been racing to refine the technology for commercial application.
Hitachi's scientists are set to develop a brain TV remote controller letting users turn a TV on and off or switch channels by only thinking.
Honda, whose interface monitors the brain with an MRI machine like those used in hospitals, is keen to apply the interface to intelligent, next-generation automobiles.
The technology could one day replace remote controls and keyboards and perhaps help disabled people operate electric wheelchairs, beds or artificial limbs.
Initial uses would be helping people with paralyzing diseases communicate even after they have lost all control of their muscles.
Since 2005, Hitachi has sold a device based on optical topography that monitors brain activity in paralyzed patients so they can answer simple questions — for example, by doing mental calculations to indicate "yes" or thinking of nothing in particular to indicate "no."
"We are thinking of various kinds of applications," project leader Hideaki Koizumi said. "Locked-in patients can speak to other people by using this kind of brain machine interface."
A key advantage to Hitachi's technology is that sensors don't have to physically enter the brain. Earlier technologies developed by U.S. companies like Neural Signals Inc. required implanting a chip under the skull.
Still, major stumbling blocks remain.
Size is one issue, though Hitachi has developed a prototype compact headband and mapping machine that together weigh only about two pounds.
Another would be to tweak the interface to more accurately pick up on the correct signals while ignoring background brain activity.
Any brain-machine interface device for widespread use would be "a little further down the road," Koizumi said.
He added, however, that the technology is entertaining in itself and could easily be applied to toys.
"It's really fun to move a model train just by thinking," he said.
News Inside News :
Hitachi's Optical Tomography system dynamically measures and images the hemoglobin levels in the brain during functional activity. The system beams near-infrared light into the patient's head, and picks up the reflected light penetrating through the cerebral cortex. It opens up a totally new way of assessing the brain.
Click on any of the links below to learn more about Optical Tomography and our Hitachi product solutions
Principles of Optical Topography-
It is well known to scientists that the transmission and absorption of light in human body tissues is sensitive to its hemoglobin concentration. The fundamentals of the optical topography system utilize the phenomenon, using the better penetrating near infrared light, rather than visible light, to measure changes in blood hemoglobin concentrations in the brain.
Infrared light is a type of radio wave that has a longer wavelength than that of visible light. The system uses near infrared light to measure the changes of oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin as well as total blood volume changes in various regions of the brain's upper levels ( cerebral cortex ), showing the data as images.
When a specific area of the brain is activated, the localized blood volume in that area changes quickly. It can thus be determined by the system, where and how active the specific regions of the brain are, by continuously monitoring the blood hemoglobin levels, while having the examinee do some specific action or task paradigm.
It takes only 0.1 second to perform one cycle of measurement, calculation and display, so this system provides a "real-time" measurement of the brain's activity.
The system has several unique advantages over current measurement methods. It is non-invasive, and can be used under a variety of conditions with minimal restriction on the examinee. Measurements can be made under more natural conditions, giving more freedom in task design. It also enables simultaneous measurements with other testing modalities such as EEG, fMRI and MEG. The system's design facilitates longitudinal studies and monitoring over extended time periods
Features and Options-
Compact and light unit can be easily wheeled anywhere in the facility
Incorporated short-wavelength light source generates low levels of interfering noise during measurement
Capacity for rapid and accurate testing with straightforward on-screen operability
Collects simultaneous data through 48 channels
52 channels maximum when optional 3x11 probes are used
Simultaneous 24-channel measurement possible with single probe
Applicable in the field of cognitive neuroscience.
Measures and provides real-time images of changing brain activity
Comfortable for the patient being tested
Simultaneous measurement of up to 52 channels of data
In The Images-
1.Hitachi, Ltd. researcher Akiko Obata takes off a head gear following a demonstration
2.Measurement of Near-Infrared Light
3.ETG-4000
4.Outline Drawings
Release link: http://www.hitachimed.com/contentindex.asp?ID=221
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