The electrodes “read” what was happening in the area of the monkeys’ brains – and allowed them to type using their thoughts at 12 word per minute.
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During the experiments, the technology would directly read the monkey’s brainwaves driving a cursor that would hover above the letter the monkey was trained to use.
The monkeys were able to move a cursor backwards and forwards on a grid which represents letters of the alphabet by thinking about moving up and down, left and right.
Two rhesus macaque monkeys (stock picture left) had electrodes implanted in part of the brain that controls hand movement.
In a pilot experiment, the technology developed by electrical engineering professor Krishna Shenoy and postdoctoral fellow Paul Nuyujukian enabled the primates to replicate sections from Hamlet and the New York Times by directly reading their brain signals, then using the data it collected to direct a cursor over a keyboard, the researchers explained in a press release.
However, he admits that people with paralysis using the system would likely type slower than these scripted sentences, but the technology is there if they are feeling quite productive.
“The interface we tested is exactly what a human would use”.
While most now available technology in this field either tracks the movements of the eyes or individual facial muscles, such devices are limited and require a level of muscular control that some individuals simply do not have, the study authors explained. In other words, there’s now an upper bound on typing speeds, or communication speeds for that matter of fact, given specific brain-computer interfaces. They’ve updated the algorithms for how they translate the brain signals into typing, which they tested in a series of studies in which animals transcribed passages from either the New York Times or (in this case) Hamlet. “It enables a typing rate sufficient for a meaningful conversation”. “What we had never quantified before was the typing rate that could be achieved”, Nuyujukian added. They are testing this faster, more accurate technology in people now. However, these have limitations, and can require a degree of muscle control that might be hard for some people. For example, the system developed for Hawking by Intel and SwiftKey relies on tracking the movement of facial muscles.
Still, that’s a rate that could allow people who otherwise can’t communicate to share thoughts and emotions with their loved ones.
The 12 words a minute achieved by the monkeys could be speeded up by pairing the technology with word completion technology used by smartphones.
In addition to proving the technology, the study showed that the implanted sensor could be stable for several years.
In 2011, a team of monkeys wrote the complete works of Shakespeare – just.
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Scientists said their digital monkeys had recreated 99.99 per cent of Shakespeare’s works – although clearly not typed in order.
