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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">...NASA, it seems, has been following a different track.

Image - Neural control of a plane http://amesnews.arc.nasa.gov/release...c/0001831m.JPG

Instead of trying to decode the brain's electrical activity, they are
using several "dry" (non-invasive) metal-button-like electrodes that
are held against the skin by an elastic sleeve, to receive the nerve
signals going to the muscles in the arm. Then, special neural net
software interprets these signals with enough precision to allow a
pilot to land a 757 airliner (well, a 757 simulator, actually) without
using any physical controller at all!

According to their Feb. 1 press release
http://amesnews.arc.nasa.gov/releases/2001/01_08AR.html , Dr. Charles Jorgensen, head of NASA's neuroengineering laboratory, calls this,

"...significant, in that neuroelectric control of computers can replace computer keyboards, mice and joysticks for some uses."

"A pilot closes his fist in empty air, makes movements, and creates nerve signals that are captured by a dry electrode array on his arm. The nerve signals are analyzed and then routed through a computer, allowing the pilot to control the simulated airplane."

He also suggests that such control is far more intuitive than when interposing some form of controller between the person and the machine.

The potential uses for such control mechanisms are vast, ranging helping physically challenged people, to "driving" fly-by-wire cars, to ever more-intuitive simulations and video games. And I do think this is just the beginning. Over time, we'll be able to get as close to our machines, and to the environments and worlds they'll create, as we wish. And that should be very interesting, indeed.</font>

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