RESEARCHES at the University of Technology Sydney have developed a technology that can remotely operate a variety of devices or robots, simply through the power of the mind. This technology was recently demonstrated by the Australian Army, where soldiers were able to operate a four-legged robot using a novel brain-machine interface.

This interface was developed by UTS professors Chin-Teng Lin and Francesca Iacopi, in collaboration with the Australian Army and the Defense Innovation Hub.

It is composed of sensors, placed mainly at the back of the scalp, which are in charge of detecting brainwaves from the visual cortex.

These sensors are made of silicon and graphene, which are particularly durable materials, but above all perfect conductors when in contact with the skin.

The user wears an augmented reality headset that displays flashing white squares, each corresponding to a possible command.

By focusing on one of them, the brain waves of the user are captured and then "translated" into an instruction (stop, turn right or left, etc.) via a kind of decoder. The robot then instantly executes the order.

This is undoubtedly an advance in brain-machine interfaces. Plus, such technology could simplify set-ups, since it would no longer be necessary to use tools such as keyboards, joysticks or even touchscreens to interact with a machine.

In the future, this technology could prove particularly useful in the aerospace or even in healthcare fields.

For example, one day, a disabled person could be able to "control" a wheelchair or a prosthetic device simply with their mind.

Note that this work is the subject of a paper published in the scientific journal ACS Applied Nano Materials.