The first step towards real life mecha?

Honda, ATR and Shimadzu Jointly Develop Brain-Machine Interface Technology Enabling Control of a Robot by Human Thought Alone TOKYO, Japan, March 31, 2009 - Honda Research Institute Japan Co., Ltd. (HRI-JP), a subsidiary of Honda R&D Co., Ltd., Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR) and Shimadzu Corporation have collaboratively developed the world’s first*1 Brain Machine Interface (BMI) technology that uses electroencephalography (EEG) and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) along with newly developed information extraction technology to enable control of a robot by human thought alone. It does not require any physical movement such as pressing buttons. This technology will be further developed for the application to human-friendly products in the future by integrating it with intelligent technologies and/or robotic technologies.

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Sounds intresting!! Maybe it will lead to a mind controlled Gundam!!

Veritech fighters and SDF 1's!! how cool will that be? of course with the price of oil, they'd better find some protoculture or these thing will be too costly

Notice the "*" in your quoted paragraph. This leads to a footnote which reveals the following information.

According to Honda and ATR in-house research.

So... Honda says that Honda is the first to develop this groundbreaking technology? I'm skeptical, for several reasons, but primarily because I think Honda is a bit bias towards their own self-promotion. It's the same reason I wouldn't trust R.J. Reynolds in-house research teams to suggest that Cigarettes contain cancer-fighting anti-oxidants. You know... they MAY ACTUALLY have, but what they wouldn't tell you (for example) is that those antioxidants are lost in the incineration process.

The asterisk is there so that they can make a bold and likely false claim, while still being technically truthful. They're just banking you remember the bold statement, and overlook or forget the retraction/statement of uncertainty that's in the fine print.

They may be the first to use a particular combination of technologies, or incorporate new technologies based on recent discoveries - but the concept of BCI controlled robots is not new, and neither are workable demonstrations of this technology.

The below video was taken by researchers at the University of Washington sometime in 2007... or at least, that's when the video was uploaded to YouTube.



Here's another 2007 upload from video taken at Keio University Biomedical Engineering Laboratory which developed a BCI for movement control in the PC Software "Second Life". If you can control an avatar in a 3D simulation - you can control a robot in a 3D reality.



So the Honda demonstration (going to look for video as soon as I'm done), may be quite a bit more sophisticated and impressive than the videos posted above. Still, I only intend to demonstrate that they were not the first to do it, even if they are the first to make a commercial grade prototype with it.

Also... note that this can be done in reverse, allowing computer control over a biological brain.



As well as basic integration and cooperation of brain tissue and computer to direct the movement of a robot that lacks a traditional brain.



We're a lot further ahead than most people would ever suspect, and much further behind than where many seem to project our technology to be.

SO its more like Ghost in the shell then gundam. Still it is amazing how far technology has progressed.
Lets just hope technology like this not used for war but i would still love to own a veritech fighter!

[edit on 10-6-2009 by raptorinvictus]

[edit on 10-6-2009 by raptorinvictus]

reply to post by raptorinvictus


I've built things like these before, I learned mechatronics in the university and won one mechatronics engineering competition!

I could tell that, human-sized ones can be made practical. But sizes like those of Gundam would only be limited to a child's fantasy. It could be done of course, and may offer some benefits of improved battlefield mobility but for practicality and reliability's sake, I'll just settle with tanks.

Of course things could change if force fields and much stronger materials can be invented, making these behemoths more viable war machines. But why not just put them in attack helicopters or VTOL fighter aircraft??

Perhaps there's a very good reason why we haven't seen 12+ stories-high alien mobile fighting suits to date!! Except those mentioned in the Bible

reply to post by ahnggk


Gundam is a stereotype.
I remember reading somewhere some Japanese guy made something called hybrid assisted limbs or hal for short which is a strength enhancing exoskeleton.
Also a large humanoid vehicle would be usefull in mountains where tanks can not go so i think its not too far off.
Also it would be very useful in construction work.

I just want one of those Robotech Cyclones... Now that's a mech!

Intriguing, but still a LONG way to go. Thing is though, I can't really see a good combat role for a mech, that couldn't be done better by other vehicles.

reply to post by Gazrok


In the late 90s india and pakistan had what was called the kargil war.
The terrain ws so rough tanks could not reach there and aircraft were prettymuch useless because of the mountains.
I think a humonoid vehicle would be very effective in such terrain as it can move as nimbly as a human.
Also if it has hands changing weapons will be realy easy. Also fighting with it would be very different and i feel this would give it a great advantage over conventional weaponry.