A neuro-interface developed in Russia makes it possible to steer a drone by a pilot’s mind alone, Russia media wrote on Tuesday. The interface was designed by Neurobotics Company and ordered by the Future Studies Fund in Moscow.
“The FSF wanted the demonstrator operating the quadcopter to simultaneously do something else to make sure that this technology can be used on the battlefield… That’s why during the demonstration our operator kept moving around while the quadcopter responded to his direction commands and orders to fly to a designated target,” Neurobotics director Vladimir Konyshev told Izvestiya newspaper.
“This interface could also come in handy for handicapped people living in a ‘smart house’ enabling hands-free typing and other physical operations. And, of course, this neuro-interface will be of great help to the designers of new weapons systems,” FSF technical director Vitaly Davydov said.
It normally takes the human brain several months to adapt to the commands communicated by this new interface, but this adaptation period may eventually be reduced to several weeks.
The quadcopter is not the only thing around that can be operated by the human brain though. Similar systems now exist also in the United States and Finland where pilots wear special caps, which measure their brain activity allowing them to steer a drone through a mission in the sky using their thoughts alone.
In 2013, the Americans announced that they were working on a quadcopter operated by telekinesis, and in October 2014 the Pentagon said scientists were trying to develop brain-operated UAVs.
In the summer of 2015, the Chinese tested a car where the driver, wearing a ‘mind cap’, had the car moving forward and backward and it also opened and closed its doors using his brain alone.