‘Terminator Rising’ – Military To Control Robots Via ‘Brain Waves’

ANALYSIS – Forget keyboards and touch screens or even voice commands. Troops may soon control military electronic devices and robots with their thoughts.

And it is frighteningly easy to do according to tests by the Australian Army.

All it takes is a connected headset and a robot.

Working with technology researchers, the Aussies are using non-invasive headsets and skin patches to read brain signals and control robot dogs via mental telepathy.

During the testing, the Australian Army reportedly used Microsoft HoloLens 2 headsets and Raspberry Pi-based AI decoders to capture brain waves and translate them into “explainable instructions” sent telepathically to a Vision 60 Ghost Robot dog.

The technology demonstration showed hands-free command of the robotic dog with nearly 94% accuracy.

And the key to this tech is that it can be done via a headset and not invasive connections to the brain, simply removable patches connected to the scalp.

“By using cutting edge graphene material, combined with silicon, we were able to overcome issues of corrosion, durability and skin contact resistance, to develop the wearable dry sensors,” said Professor Francesca Lacopi, from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Faculty of Engineering and IT.

She is working on the amazing project with the Australian Army and Defense Innovation Hub.

So, how does it work? Study Finds writes:

Hexagon patterned sensors are positioned over the back of the scalp. This is done to detect brainwaves from the visual cortex. The sensors are quite resilient to harsh conditions, and can even be used in extreme operating environments.

Users wear a head-mounted augmented reality lens that displays white flickering squares. When one concentrates on a specific square, the brainwaves of the operator are picked up by the biosensor, and a decoder translates the signal into commands.

Distinguished Professor Chin-Teng Lin, also working on the project explains more:

Our technology can issue at least nine commands in two seconds. This means we have nine different kinds of commands and the operator can select one from those nine within that time period. We have also explored how to minimize noise from the body and environment to get a clearer signal from an operator's brain.

Amazing stuff.

Popular Mechanics reports:

“This collaboration focused on how we could create a brain robotic interface that will allow a soldier, rather than operating an autonomous system with a command console, to operate the system using brains signals,” Lieutenant Colonel Kate Tollenaar, of the Robotic and Autonomous Systems Implementation and Coordination Office (RICO), says in a video. “This is very much an idea about what might be possible in the future.”

In another test the team included a simulated operation of soldiers and ghost robot dogs working in tandem to clear an area.

In the above video, Sergeant Chandan Rana of the 1^st/15^th Royal New Lancers says: “This technology enables me to not only control the ghost robot as well as monitor its video feed, but it allows me to be situationally aware of my surroundings as well as my team, to be able to control all movements on the battlefield clearance.”

The power of this new technology extends far beyond mechanical puppies and is likely transferrable to numerous autonomous military applications.

The Australian Army believes it can use this tech to control aerial drones, drone swarms, ground weapon systems and potentially even a tiny robot army.

So, it is clear that we are inching closer to mind-controlled Terminator battlefield robots in the near future.

But on a less ominous note, there are also plenty of civilian uses for this tech. As Study Finds reports:

Besides its potential use for defensive and military purposes, the technology holds serious promise in fields such as advanced manufacturing, aerospace, and healthcare. For example, helping people with disabilities control a wheelchair or operate prosthetics.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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