Asimo: Honda's "Brain Machine Interface"

Honda's Asimo robot was used to demonstrate a mind control technology known as "Brain-Machine Interface" (BMI) at a briefing on Tuesday, March 31, 2009. Reporters viewed a video-taped demonstration of Asimo, a humanoid robot, being controlled by the brain waves of a person wearing a helmet.

The video begins with an animated introduction explaining BMI Brain Machine Interface and how "convenient and helpful" it would be if your car trunk would just open when you willed it to, with your mind.

The non-invasive Brain-Machine Interface technology uses EEG (electroencephalography) and NIRS (near-infrared spectroscopy) to measure the brain activity of the human subject. The measurements are taken by EEG and NIRS sensors that are fitted on a helmet worn by the test subject. The human only has to 'imagine' movement. The information is then processed, sent wirelessly and acted out by the robot, in this case, Asimo, who was fitted with the Brain Machine Interface. The time between the 'thought' and the actual movement was just several seconds.

In the experiment, the human, wearing the helmet, is shown a card with a symbol of a hand raised. The human then imagines the act of raising his hand. The robot then announces that he received the instruction and raises his hand.

The demonstration was video-taped because, according to Honda, the human subject could have been too distracted in front of a live audience. In addition, it takes about two of three hours worth of study in order to analyze the brain waves of a particular person before the technology can work properly. They claim the robot achieved 90% accuracy during testing.