Imagine having the ability to fly a plane without ever touching the controls. How amazing would that be? Well, it's reality for one woman.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has been experimenting with new ways to control planes and robotic arms. However, DARPA Director Arati Prabhakar announced at a recent New America Foundation presentation on the "Future of War" that Pat Scheuermann, a 55-year-old patient who suffers from a neurodegenerative condition, was able to control an F-35 with her mind, according to Fox News.
Scheuermann went through surgery in 2012 that placed two small probes in her left motor cortex. These probes were originally designed to let her control a pair of prosthetic arms. The probes tracked 96 different points in that region of the brain, and did their best to record what signals that particular part of the brain sent out when Scheuermann imagined certain movements.
The procedure was a success, and Scheuermann was able to control her synthetic limbs with ease. But Scheuermann wanted a challenge. So, DARPA and its partner, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center teamed up in order to figure out how to do it. Once Scheuermann's probes were modified correctly, the 55-year-old woman was able to pilot and maneuver her virtual F-35 with ease.
While this is a monumental move for creating a mind-machine interface, Prabhakar notes that we're still a long way from implementing such technology in real jets.
"We can now see a future where we can now free the brain from the limitations of the human body......and I think we can all imagine amazing good things and amazing potentially bad things on the other side of that door," he said.
