Monkey's thoughts make robot walk from across the globe

[muhammadzahmad]

informative and interesting

[happinesson]

this research will give hope to our brothers and sisters who are physically disabled!

[potpie921]

amazing

[applekid64]

must define big words....lol.....

[Vagextrol]

If a understand well, an hadicaped person could walk just by sending a signal via internet that activates a treadmill with a monkey on it and the act of walking on a treadmill generate activity in the monkey's brain which is sent back to the patient robot legs.

Clever !

[amensure]

lol

[Vagextrol]

For those who did not get it... I was sarcastic :D

[dvjtelinha]

Miguel Nicolelis is brazilian.

[JohnM3D]

1) Why wasn't the actual monkey shown? Maybe not to shock people with the probes and wires connected to the animal. 2) The robot's feet don't touch the ground: this is still very mechanically crude and simplified. 3) The fact that the robot and the monkey are "half-way around the world" is absolutely bullshit -- for the effect of the experiment they could be in the same building -- or were they concerned of telepathy? I think they just wanted to use some marketing-catering-hype wording.

[springloadedchicken]

why don't you watch the whole segment next time.

[HelioMX]

What a jerk

[lardhat]

No. The idea is to make this devices operable by human brains. No monkeys would be involved then.

[teabagtime]

Your ignorance is baffling. He's not Russian, judging by his name he is greek. And you obviously failed to understand the point of the experiment. It is now safe to turn off your computer.

[neverbeenfree]

You morons have forced me to respond. Have you ever heard of drunken sarcasm? Apparently not. Nonetheless, I am still soberly concerned about the damn monkey. And neither lardass or teabagger has clarified the situation.

[turma206m]

Actually, he is Brazilian.

[springloadedchicken]

oh, come on, YOU can't think!

[mylilgymsock1]

WTF

[Respectab13]

my words exactly

[moreopiumplz]

ok...so a monkey can make a robot walk with its thoughts...can it farm?

[BrokeProphet]

Wonder why they only offered video of a CGI monkey walking on a treadmill?

[thettguy]

Because PETA would get pissed and bomb the lab if we had a pic of monkey with electrodes coming out of his head

[baboontorture]

Its only a matter of time until that monkey gets pissed and uses that robot to run amok and robot monkeys take over the planet. That would be sweet.

[Agent766]

That would be fun! :D

[7milejog]

monkeys are smarter than humans in some cases

[BoondockDeacon]

Like throwing poop at their enemies, that they are much more proficient at.

[WilliWauller]

Future will be ....as scary as intresting...

[curtrod]

I propose that 'thewineclip' perform the experiment next time since they are so interested in protecting the monkey's rights!

[curtrod]

did you ask the monkey for his permission?, did he sign a release form?, why not perform this experiment on humans, hell, why don't YOU do it?

[Vebutse]

Wheres the monkey?

For all we know this is a computer controlling the legs and no monkey involved at all, just the animated one.

[shokrone]

They probably don't want to show people a video of a monkey with crap installed into the back of its skull.

Still, I hope once this research is completed it will be used in the myriad of applications that could benefit the human race.

[nosocceraloud]

i will have to agree that the people saying "what about the monkey", do have a point. what if there really are wires coming out of its brain?

[Arianive]

this technology + contact lenses that can display full screen images = awesome video games you control by thought

[TunnelVision2]

That is an extremely interesting idea!

[Arianive]

isn't it? I saw some videos on the lenses. It would be a wonderful complement to this technology - I would envision a calibration where you set up your "console" to recognize your movements, combined with a full 2-eye view of a 3D simulation. Hello, holodeck!

[thewineclip]

You're wrong about why the monkey is not shown. There are policies in place to protect the monkey from being filmed.

[tokotokotoko3]

Perhaps I missed the sarcasm here. But if it's meant searious: got any sources for that? What would we protect if we dont film monkeys? His right for privacy?

I'm pretty sure that the reason is more about the fact that the real image of a monkey force strapped to a waking machinge - while his brain is connected to wires is not so pleasant. You probably have to be a researcher for some years so that your emotions went numb enough to accept that.

[zharquon]

so it seems we really care about his rights.

[xenesthis]

Why don't they show the monkey? I think, a reason could be, that it might be a too disturbing image!? And they don't want to be in the spotlight for animal experiments and therefore people protesting against it. So that no one forgets about the success they had in this experiment and prevents them maybe from future experiments.

[juliaest]

and where is the REAL monkey? why there is only an animation?

i think they put their measurement devices in to his brain and that maybe looks digusting and this wouldnt be a good publicity.

[toutagamon]

Dr Miguel Nicolelis! Hmmmm...Nicolelis sounds like a greek name but Miguel does not! Excellent work though! :D

[jacobacramirez]

what does the name have to do with anything!?

[kencheng7852]

yes yes total agree, a great step towards futher techknology

[vonanttila]

helping the handicapped would be the first step for this techic, since it wouldn't need such complex technology for giving a person 'new legs' ie. atleast better movement than with wheelchair or such. but i see a lot more 'useful' and important applications for this. this technology could be used in many kind of things if developed to a higher level.

[PETEYPOPOFF]

Interesting, but aren't we missing the real issues of the day by focusing on these things? I mean Brittany Spears was in a church yesterday! What is she doing today?!! This we need to know. Robotic legs for the handicap? What has happened to our society when this is front page news and all over the television. Shame shame.

[toutagamon]

Hilarious and bravo for the irony!

[amilcaralzaga]

Intersting, there has been a constant advance in this field since the last 4 years, a variation of this experiment was publiushed three years ago in a book called "Radical Evolution". I would like to see the monkey connected to all those sensors

[E23R0]

i want to see the monkey as well

[kenavodemat]

guess they wouldn't want us to see a monkey with cables into his brain...

[lepermunna]

It could find application in improving capabilities, rather than just repairing lost capabilities. I'm sure that's where the primary market will be once the technology becomes further developed.

[fady911x]

do i hear the word "weapon"?

[Mustock]

Very interesting. But the question is if such prosthetics will make it to the market before scientists are able to regrow nerves (by injecting stem cells and/or some other method).