Mind Over Matter Or Brain Controlling Matter?

[Solitary]

www.youtube.com/embed/6LWz4qa2XQA?feature   Solitary

[aitm]

Thats pretty damn cool. I have a whole new line of wimmens skirts to design....

[Jason78]

It's still cool, even when you know how it works :D

[Hydra009]

Why did they go with imagining a fist to make it turn right?  Seems pretty counter-intutive and clearly requires a great deal of concentration.  Why not just imagine it turning right to make it turn right?

[Hijiri Byakuren]

Why did they go with imagining a fist to make it turn right?  Seems pretty counter-intuitive and clearly requires a great deal of concentration.  Why not just imagine it turning right to make it turn right?

Maybe that's the only way they could get a signal close enough to the outer layer of the brain to be readable.

[Plu]

I'm guessing because it's easier to detect someone thinking about operating one of their own body parts than it is to detect someone thinking about controlling a very specific kind of object that is not a part of their body.

But this is really cool. Mind control tricks are awesome.

[Colanth]

"Thinking" about moving a body part actually results in signals to move that part.  Even in paralytics, if they "try to" move  a hand or a foot, the brain sends out those signals.  (The paralysis isn't caused by a malfunction in the brain.)  It's a lot easier for a paralyzed person to "try to" say reach for something to control a robotic arm than it would be for him to think of the letters r, f, g ("reach for glass").  And a lot easier to detect, since motor control signals are distinct, large and easy to recognize.

And that's the goal of this little exercise - to help the handicapped.  (If it were to control a little flying platform, movement of the head would probably be better, with the addition of a finger movement or something similar to control fan speed.  But that's not the goal.)