Of monkeys and robots

I'm currently reading a book called The Brain That Changes Itself, by Norman Doidge, which discusses neuroplasticity. It's basically the theory that the brain can reorganize and rewire itself as need be; it's a muscle that can be strengthened and trained.

The book is quite informing and well worth the read; I highly recommend it. I find the research he brings up and the advances that that research can lead to amazing, but one thing he talks about is definitely mind grabbing.

It involves monkeys.

Apparently, researchers connected microelectrodes to the part of the brain that sends orders for the body to move (I think the hippocampus? I don't have the book in front of me at the mo'.) Everytime we move an arm, electric impulses are first sent from the areas of the brain that control movement of the arm. Those impulses are then sent out through the spinal cord, down to the arm, and then the arm moves. The microelectrodes were used to decode the electric impulse so that the movement could be replicated elsewhere. They were successfully able to decode the electric impulses that were sent from the monkey's brain to its arm.

So, they set up two robotic arms 600 miles apart. Monkey wanted to move his left arm, so the brain sent the electric impulse on its way to the arm (this takes about 300 milliseconds). The electric impulse was also intercepted by the microelectrodes. Computers decoded the impulse and then sent the decoded message to both robotic arms. They moved at the same time as the monkey's arm!

How cool is that?! Imagine the possibilities!

Are you imagining them? Good. Why hasn't Hollywood caught on??? Monkey-powered robots?! It would be a movie gold mine!