Monkey’s brain controls transcontinental robotRhesus christBy INQUIRER staff: Thursday, 17 January 2008, 9:45 AMBOFFINS AT Duke University teamed up with Japanese boffins and transmitted signals from a wired up rhesus monkey in the state to a robot based in Japan.A monkey was wired up at Duke with electrodes connected to their motor and sensory cortexes. The monkey was put on a treadmill with sensors in its legs following its movements.The boffins then transmitted signals to the Japan Science and Technology Agency.Said Duke Boffin Miguel Nicolelis: “The most stunning finding is that when we stopped the treadmill and the monkey ceased to move its legs, it was able to sustain the locomotion of the robot for a few minutes – just by thinking – using only the visual feedback of the robot in Japan.”So what’s the purpose of the experiment? Nicolelis said: “We believe this research could have significant implications for severely paralysed patients.”It also has implications for wired up monkeys, we guess. The name of the monkey wasn’t disclosed, but there’s a vid of the experiment .
