The Defense Department's research arm is working on a project that connects human operators' brains to the systems they're controlling-and vice versa.

The idea of humans controlling machines with their minds has spun off sci-fi blockbusters like "Pacific Rim" and entire subgenres of foreign film, but while today skyscraper-sized fighting robots exist only on the big screen, the Pentagon is building technology that could one day make them a reality.

Today, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is selecting teams to develop a "neural interface" that would both allow troops to connect to military systems using their brainwaves and let those systems transmit back information directly to users' brains.

The Next-Generation Non-Surgical Neurotechnology, or N3, program aims to combine the speed and processing power of computers with humans' ability to adapt to complex situations, DARPA said. In other words, the technology would let people control, feel and interact with a remote machine as though it were a part of their own body.

"From the first time a human carved a rock into a blade or formed a spear, humans have been creating tools to help them interact with the world around them," said Al Emondi, the program manager at DARPA's Biological Technologies Office. "The tools we use have grown more sophisticated over time ... but these still require some form of physical control interface-touch, motion or voice. What neural interfaces promise is a richer, more powerful and more natural experience in which our brains effectively become the tool."

DARPA began studying interactions between humans and machines in the 1960s, and while technology that merges the two may sound far-fetched, the organization already proved it's possible.

Through its Revolutionizing Prosthetics program, DARPA created a prosthetic limb that disabled veterans can control using an electrode implanted in their brain. The system gives users "near-natural" arm and hand motion while transmitting signals that mirror a sense of touch back to their brain.

Now the agency wants to create a similar apparatus for able-bodied service men and women that doesn't require surgical implants.

The N3 program is divided into two tracks: non-invasive interfaces that sit completely outside the body, and minutely invasive interfaces that could require users to ingest different chemical compounds to help external sensors read their brain activity. In both tracks, technologies must be "bidirectional," meaning they can read brain activity and also write new information back to the user.

While those capabilities might fuel conspiracy theories about government mind-reading and mind-control, Emondi told Nextgov that won't be the case-scientists are only beginning to figure out how the brain's 100 billion neurons interact, so controlling those interactions is next to impossible. Instead, he said it's better to think of N3 technology as means to use to a computer or smartphone without a mouse, keyboard or touch screen.

The program is solely focused on designing an interface for humans to connect with technology, not the technology itself, but according to Emondi, the use cases will likely be more high stakes than controlling prosthetic limbs.

He theorized the interface could be used to help a pilot coordinate a fleet of drones with their thoughts or troops to control a remotely deployed robot by using their brain's motor signals. He added cybersecurity specialists could even connect to the system to monitor different parts of a computer network with their physical bodies.

Depending on how the interface is designed, that specialist might "hear" a cyberattack when it happens or "feel" it in the part of their body that corresponds to a section of the network. Stimulating different neurons create different sensations in the body, said Emondi, and participating teams must decide how their device will transmit signals back to the brain.

Given the intensely personal nature of the technology, DARPA is requiring designs to comply with a number of health and safety requirements, and also address any potential cybersecurity concerns. While today the project's biggest ethical questions relate to safety and risk of testing, "if N3 is successful," Emondi said, "I anticipate we could face questions related to agency, autonomy and the experience of information being communicated to a user."

"We don't think about N3 technology as simply a new way to fly a plane or to talk to a computer, but as tool for actual human-machine teaming," Emondi said. "As we approach a future in which increasingly autonomous systems will play a greater role in military operations, neural interface technology can help warfighters build a more intuitive interaction with these systems."

Participating teams will have four years to create a working neural interface. DARPA declined to comment on the project's funding levels.
I don't know if anyone ever watched the anime "ghost in the Shell", but it looks that's where we are headed...

http://www.sott.net/article/391545-Pentagon-wants-a-neural-interface-that-brings-mind-controlled-tech-to-troops

Excerpt from mightymoe's post

" While those capabilities might fuel conspiracy theories about government mind-reading and mind-control, Emondi told Nextgov that won't be the case-scientists are only beginning to figure out how the brain's 100 billion neurons interact, so controlling those interactions is next to impossible".
Trump is way ahead of these guys,how else did he convince almost half of the population to vote for him ?

WTH? Stay on topic, this has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with Trump...

What happened to your sense of humour mightymoe ?
The article does talk about mind reading and mind control in relation to conspiracies and in the light of all the current discussion regarding how Russia is exercising control over American voters I don't think I am that far off topic.

Fighter jets piloted by mind control using brain-to-machine implant on the horizon
By Mary-Ann Russon
May 31, 2016
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/fighter-jets-piloted-by-mind-control-using-brain-machine-implant-horizon-1562895


Future fighter pilot training may include brain surgery
Kelly Hodgkins
Posted on 6.6.16
http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/mind-control-fighter-pilot/



I find this very interesting.
I've seen movies with mind controlled fighter jets and always thought it was a cool concept.

I recall reading awhile ago about a break-thru in prosthetic limbs that allows the limb to interface with the brain, can't remember the link address tho. Might have been Science Daily or Science Digest?

Right now, the technology is in infancy but humans have a knack for making things smaller and more efficient. We operate things now by remote using RF signals. In the future, you might swallow a pill and nanotech sets up a connection in your brain. Things might come with a mind interface built in much like TVs have an IR remote control signal interface built in.
I can see problems but I also see great opportunity.

yes you are...this isn't going to turn into a Trump hatefest...start your own topic if you wanna hate...

not real sure, but it seems like that the quantum computing might have a big impact here....they need processor speed and lots of memory for this

Consider the fact that we have already built an AI that passed the Turing Test without quantum computing and the fact that our brains already manipulate actuators, I think the main issue is the point to point connection that is the hardest part.

In our own bodies, we get feedback from our actuators thru our nervous system. You send out a command to clench your fist and your hand sends back data telling your brain that your fist is clenched or in the process of clenching or that no movement occurred.

With a neural interface it is a one-way command. You require one of your 5 senses to confirm the action. Your brain tells your prosthetic hand to clench but you don't 'feel' it clenching, you see it clenching. There is a reactionary delay significantly slower than sensory feedback.
You can operate the drone with your mind but you can't sense the drone with your mind. You still need your ears and eyes (a camera and microphone) to get feedback.

A true interface would allow for a two way connection.
You would feel the drone making maneuvers. You would feel how the drone was reacting to the environment (wind, heat, vibrations...)while you are manipulating its actuators. In a sense, you become part of the drone and the drone becomes part of you.
The drone would not need high computing power because the computing power would be handled by your brain. It would need special sensors and actuators and an interface connection with your brain which could be anything from an antenna to a receptor coating.

Sensory feedback for upper limb prostheses.
Prog Brain Res. 2011;192:69-81. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-444-53355-5.00005-1.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21763519



Prosthetic arms can provide controlled sensory feedback
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180426180000.htm
Date:
April 26, 2018
Source:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Summary:
Losing an arm doesn't have to mean losing all sense of touch, thanks to prosthetic arms that stimulate nerves with mild electrical feedback. Researchers have developed a control algorithm that regulates the current so a prosthetics user feels steady sensation, even when the electrodes begin to peel off or when sweat builds up.

Prosthetic hands with a sense of touch? 'Sensory feedback' from artificial limbs
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150529112005.htm
Date:
May 29, 2015
Source:
Wolters Kluwer Health: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins
Summary:
Researchers are exploring new approaches to designing prosthetic hands capable of providing "sensory feedback." New advances have been made toward developing prostheses with a sense of touch.

New 'e-dermis' brings sense of touch, pain to prosthetic hands
Electronic 'skin' will enable amputees to perceive through prosthetic fingertips
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180620171004.htm
Date:
June 20, 2018
Source:
Johns Hopkins University
Summary:
Engineers have created an electronic 'skin' in an effort to restore a real sense of touch for amputees using prosthetics.



The common thread is that all these devices require wired interface.
That is like having a TV remote control that is connected to the TV with a cable.
The next logical and most important step is to make the interface wireless.

Darpa?

Well... They did give us the internet.

Machines controlling the human mind.


It'd be only fair, if we could control the
machines with our minds.

But the question is how practical is it for the average person...

The average person,
can't even program a tv remote.

Al Gore was part of DARPA?

He's definitely the CEO of DERPA.