Avatar is closer than it might seem
The number of ongoing studies in the world that can turn the events of the sensational film “Avatar” by James Cameron into life, is growing daily and brings tangible results. Such studies are accompanied by a specific result, not only dreamers and science fiction writers talk about them, but also prominent scientists and leaders, including Russian ones. For example, Dmitry Rogozin, not so long ago, in one of his interviews told reporters that among the promising research projects implemented by the Russian Foundation, there are also works on creating an avatar.
Today, an avatar is understood as a set of components - a kind of symbiosis of a machine (actuator) and a human brain, which is built on the basis of a neural interface. If such technologies are implemented in full, a person will be able to control both a separate actuator and the whole machine at a distance with the help of his thought. Avatar is a kind of full-fledged "I" at a distance. Everything that goes around Robot-avatar, must be fully transmitted to the operator with such a level of confidence that he feels himself to be in the same place as the actuator itself. To implement this is much more difficult than the usual control of the robot at a distance accessible since the days of Soviet lunar rovers.
The scientific and technological advances that have been accumulated over the past half-century, in total, make it possible to replace 60-70% of the functions of the human body. At present, it remains only to analyze what exactly will give us the opportunity to get away from fantasies and move on to the actual design of the avatar, the benefit of the prerequisite really exists. The achievement of all mankind is the development of a large number of the most diverse robots, which today acquire the ability not only to solve programmable tasks, but also to make decisions independently, to assess the situation. The cognitive abilities of modern robotic complexes are getting closer to human capabilities.
The prospect of this kind of work felt and modern large companies. For example, Google only acquired 2013 robotic companies around the world in 8, having done this in just half a year. Among the purchases of the Internet giant is the well-known company Boston Dynamics, as well as the Japanese Shaft. In addition, Google is interested in bioengineering, in the 2013 year, Google founded the biotech company Calico - California Life Company.
First swallows
An important step in bringing the avatar closer to reality was made by neurophysics. They managed to teach monkeys to use two virtual hands, controlling them only with the help of thought. This is an important step in the development of the brain-computer interface. So far, the monkeys manage virtual hands on the computer screen, with their help you will not take a real delicacy. However, controlling these virtual hands with the help of the brain and solving tasks on the monitor screen with their help, the monkeys receive a reward. Virtual hands and there is a monkey avatar.
These experiments are being conducted today in the laboratory of the neurophysiologist Miguel Nicolelis at the Medical Center at Duke University. The experiment involves two monkeys - male and female. In the brain of each of them, scientists have implanted a record number of microelectrodes that are involved in recording the electrical activity of brain neurons. 768 electrodes were implanted into the female’s brain, 384 male. Until recently, this was not possible for any neurophysiologist in the world.
Microelectrodes are located on special boards that were located in various areas of the monkey brain cortex. Each of these microelectrodes records electrical impulses from the surrounding neurons. As a result, scientists can record the activity of more than 500 neurons in each monkey. At the same time, the monkeys were shown an avatar, which could manipulate objects of various shapes. Then they began to learn to manage it with a joystick.
At the time of this control, scientists recorded the activity of the neurons of their brain, building a model based on the data obtained, which made it possible to associate the activity of certain neurons with certain hand movements. Moreover, until recently, all such experiments were carried out with only one hand. The transition to the management of two hands with the help of brain activity is a fundamental step forward in development.
The developed model became the basis for creating a brain-computer interface that allows you to move to managing virtual avatar hands using only one thought. This means that the monkey’s desire to move his hand left or right was accompanied by the activity of key brain neurons, while the interface developed was engaged in the transformation of this activity into the desired movement of the virtual hand. To decode the activity of neurons, specialists applied an algorithm that they had already created in the framework of previous studies that were carried out with one hand.
At that moment, when the joystick was taken away from the monkeys, with the help of their thought they learned to direct virtual hands on the screen to special targets with the help of their thoughts, keeping them on targets for some time. The targets were various geometric shapes. If the monkeys coped with the task, they got a treat for it. Scientists have trained macaques in several versions. At first, the monkeys' hands were free and they could use them as if to help themselves, doing the same movements as the virtual hand. However, at the second stage, the monkeys' hands were rigidly attached to the chair, leaving only their brains to control the virtual reality.
Another interesting development is the artificial ultrastrong elastic muscle, which is created by the team of the National University of Singapore (NSU). According to the main developer of this technology, Adriana Koch, the main goal is to create muscle tissue that will surpass natural samples. According to her, the materials from which their artificial muscle is made imitate the activity of real human tissue and are able to instantly respond to the incoming electrical impulse. It is reported that this muscle is able to lift weight, which is 80 times more than its own. In the near future, through 3-5 years, experts expect to combine this muscle with a robotic arm, which will be almost indistinguishable from a real human arm, but at the same time 10 times stronger than it.
This technology has other advantages. Contractions and movements of artificial muscles can contribute to the development of a "by-product" - energy that can be converted from mechanical to electrical. Due to the natural properties of the materials used in the artificial muscle, it will be able to hold a sufficiently large amount of energy. Thanks to this, a robot that gains such muscles can become energetically autonomous and independent. For recharging he will need no more than a minute of time.
Technologies for creating artificial eyes are also widely developed. Scientists are working on the creation of various retinal prostheses. Even greater success was achieved in the development of hearing prostheses. For several years, a system of microcomputer, microphone and electrodes, which are connected to the auditory nerves, is installed in the USA. Such a system has already been established by more than 200000 patients, which suggests that these are no longer the only experiments of scientists, but ordinary clinical practice.
The crown of modern scientists, demonstrating the statement that we are able to replace 60-70% of the functions of the human body with artificial implants, was the world's first biorobot “Rex”. In such a bionic person, all established organs — from the eyes to the heart — are not artificially idle. They are all from among those already established by real patients or undergoing a series of tests. Thanks to the existing set of prostheses, Rex hears, sees, can walk and function, he is able to even keep up the simplest conversation, as he is endowed with simple artificial intelligence.
At the same time, a bionic person lacks his own stomach, lungs, and bladder. All these artificial organs have not yet been invented, however, and to the development of an artificial brain is still very far away. At the same time, Rex developers believe that in the near future any implant will be available to people. Also, scientists believe that someday they will be used by healthy people who will replace internal organs as they wear out, and this is the direct path to immortality.
Avatar technology problems
In 2013, a regular international conference called Global Future was held in New York. At this conference, according to tradition, the technical results of the large-scale Avatar project are summarized. The head of this project, Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov, is engaged in attracting investors all over the world. According to Itskov, in the near future an artificial body can be created, which in a number of its functional qualities will not differ from the original, and in time will even be able to surpass it. In addition, work is underway to create a transfer technology into this artificial body of a person’s personality, which can ensure an unlimited lifespan and give people immortality. Even the date of implementation of the first stage of this program was named - 2045 year.
Already, the Avatar project is compared with the most significant achievements in stories human civilization. Such, for example, as a project to create an atomic bomb, a flight into space, landing on the moon. Currently, there are already almost two elements of this program - the executive mechanisms and the human brain. The main obstacle to the creation of a full-fledged, functioning biomechanical symbiosis between them is the neural interface - that is, the system of direct and feedback.
When developing such a connection, a large number of questions appear. Here is just one of them: to which of the billion cells in the motor cortex of the human brain is it best to bring electrodes to control, for example, a prosthetic leg? How to find the necessary cells, to protect against various interferences, to ensure the necessary accuracy, to translate a sequence of nerve impulses of a brain cell into precise and understandable commands for an artificial mechanism?
Following these general implementation questions, a large number of private ones appear. For example, electrodes that are inserted into the human brain quickly become overgrown with a layer of glial cells. These cells are a kind of protection for our neuroenvironment, which makes it difficult to communicate with the implanted electrodes. Glial cells try to block everything they consider or perceive as a foreign body. At present, the development of antifouling and simultaneously harmless microelectrodes still represents a serious problem without a final solution. Experiments in this direction are carried out continuously. Electrodes made of nanotubes, electrodes with a special coating are offered, it is possible to replace electrical impulses with light signals (tested on animals), but it is too early to declare that the problem has been completely solved.
Information sources:
http://vpk-news.ru/articles/19099
http://www.gazeta.ru/science/2013/11/08_a_5740649.shtml
http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=1125606
http://www.nanonewsnet.ru/news/2013/reks-pervyi-v-mire-bionicheskii-chelovek
Today, an avatar is understood as a set of components - a kind of symbiosis of a machine (actuator) and a human brain, which is built on the basis of a neural interface. If such technologies are implemented in full, a person will be able to control both a separate actuator and the whole machine at a distance with the help of his thought. Avatar is a kind of full-fledged "I" at a distance. Everything that goes around Robot-avatar, must be fully transmitted to the operator with such a level of confidence that he feels himself to be in the same place as the actuator itself. To implement this is much more difficult than the usual control of the robot at a distance accessible since the days of Soviet lunar rovers.
The scientific and technological advances that have been accumulated over the past half-century, in total, make it possible to replace 60-70% of the functions of the human body. At present, it remains only to analyze what exactly will give us the opportunity to get away from fantasies and move on to the actual design of the avatar, the benefit of the prerequisite really exists. The achievement of all mankind is the development of a large number of the most diverse robots, which today acquire the ability not only to solve programmable tasks, but also to make decisions independently, to assess the situation. The cognitive abilities of modern robotic complexes are getting closer to human capabilities.
The prospect of this kind of work felt and modern large companies. For example, Google only acquired 2013 robotic companies around the world in 8, having done this in just half a year. Among the purchases of the Internet giant is the well-known company Boston Dynamics, as well as the Japanese Shaft. In addition, Google is interested in bioengineering, in the 2013 year, Google founded the biotech company Calico - California Life Company.
First swallows
An important step in bringing the avatar closer to reality was made by neurophysics. They managed to teach monkeys to use two virtual hands, controlling them only with the help of thought. This is an important step in the development of the brain-computer interface. So far, the monkeys manage virtual hands on the computer screen, with their help you will not take a real delicacy. However, controlling these virtual hands with the help of the brain and solving tasks on the monitor screen with their help, the monkeys receive a reward. Virtual hands and there is a monkey avatar.
These experiments are being conducted today in the laboratory of the neurophysiologist Miguel Nicolelis at the Medical Center at Duke University. The experiment involves two monkeys - male and female. In the brain of each of them, scientists have implanted a record number of microelectrodes that are involved in recording the electrical activity of brain neurons. 768 electrodes were implanted into the female’s brain, 384 male. Until recently, this was not possible for any neurophysiologist in the world.
Microelectrodes are located on special boards that were located in various areas of the monkey brain cortex. Each of these microelectrodes records electrical impulses from the surrounding neurons. As a result, scientists can record the activity of more than 500 neurons in each monkey. At the same time, the monkeys were shown an avatar, which could manipulate objects of various shapes. Then they began to learn to manage it with a joystick.
At the time of this control, scientists recorded the activity of the neurons of their brain, building a model based on the data obtained, which made it possible to associate the activity of certain neurons with certain hand movements. Moreover, until recently, all such experiments were carried out with only one hand. The transition to the management of two hands with the help of brain activity is a fundamental step forward in development.
The developed model became the basis for creating a brain-computer interface that allows you to move to managing virtual avatar hands using only one thought. This means that the monkey’s desire to move his hand left or right was accompanied by the activity of key brain neurons, while the interface developed was engaged in the transformation of this activity into the desired movement of the virtual hand. To decode the activity of neurons, specialists applied an algorithm that they had already created in the framework of previous studies that were carried out with one hand.
At that moment, when the joystick was taken away from the monkeys, with the help of their thought they learned to direct virtual hands on the screen to special targets with the help of their thoughts, keeping them on targets for some time. The targets were various geometric shapes. If the monkeys coped with the task, they got a treat for it. Scientists have trained macaques in several versions. At first, the monkeys' hands were free and they could use them as if to help themselves, doing the same movements as the virtual hand. However, at the second stage, the monkeys' hands were rigidly attached to the chair, leaving only their brains to control the virtual reality.
Another interesting development is the artificial ultrastrong elastic muscle, which is created by the team of the National University of Singapore (NSU). According to the main developer of this technology, Adriana Koch, the main goal is to create muscle tissue that will surpass natural samples. According to her, the materials from which their artificial muscle is made imitate the activity of real human tissue and are able to instantly respond to the incoming electrical impulse. It is reported that this muscle is able to lift weight, which is 80 times more than its own. In the near future, through 3-5 years, experts expect to combine this muscle with a robotic arm, which will be almost indistinguishable from a real human arm, but at the same time 10 times stronger than it.
This technology has other advantages. Contractions and movements of artificial muscles can contribute to the development of a "by-product" - energy that can be converted from mechanical to electrical. Due to the natural properties of the materials used in the artificial muscle, it will be able to hold a sufficiently large amount of energy. Thanks to this, a robot that gains such muscles can become energetically autonomous and independent. For recharging he will need no more than a minute of time.
Technologies for creating artificial eyes are also widely developed. Scientists are working on the creation of various retinal prostheses. Even greater success was achieved in the development of hearing prostheses. For several years, a system of microcomputer, microphone and electrodes, which are connected to the auditory nerves, is installed in the USA. Such a system has already been established by more than 200000 patients, which suggests that these are no longer the only experiments of scientists, but ordinary clinical practice.
The crown of modern scientists, demonstrating the statement that we are able to replace 60-70% of the functions of the human body with artificial implants, was the world's first biorobot “Rex”. In such a bionic person, all established organs — from the eyes to the heart — are not artificially idle. They are all from among those already established by real patients or undergoing a series of tests. Thanks to the existing set of prostheses, Rex hears, sees, can walk and function, he is able to even keep up the simplest conversation, as he is endowed with simple artificial intelligence.
At the same time, a bionic person lacks his own stomach, lungs, and bladder. All these artificial organs have not yet been invented, however, and to the development of an artificial brain is still very far away. At the same time, Rex developers believe that in the near future any implant will be available to people. Also, scientists believe that someday they will be used by healthy people who will replace internal organs as they wear out, and this is the direct path to immortality.
Avatar technology problems
In 2013, a regular international conference called Global Future was held in New York. At this conference, according to tradition, the technical results of the large-scale Avatar project are summarized. The head of this project, Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov, is engaged in attracting investors all over the world. According to Itskov, in the near future an artificial body can be created, which in a number of its functional qualities will not differ from the original, and in time will even be able to surpass it. In addition, work is underway to create a transfer technology into this artificial body of a person’s personality, which can ensure an unlimited lifespan and give people immortality. Even the date of implementation of the first stage of this program was named - 2045 year.
Already, the Avatar project is compared with the most significant achievements in stories human civilization. Such, for example, as a project to create an atomic bomb, a flight into space, landing on the moon. Currently, there are already almost two elements of this program - the executive mechanisms and the human brain. The main obstacle to the creation of a full-fledged, functioning biomechanical symbiosis between them is the neural interface - that is, the system of direct and feedback.
When developing such a connection, a large number of questions appear. Here is just one of them: to which of the billion cells in the motor cortex of the human brain is it best to bring electrodes to control, for example, a prosthetic leg? How to find the necessary cells, to protect against various interferences, to ensure the necessary accuracy, to translate a sequence of nerve impulses of a brain cell into precise and understandable commands for an artificial mechanism?
Following these general implementation questions, a large number of private ones appear. For example, electrodes that are inserted into the human brain quickly become overgrown with a layer of glial cells. These cells are a kind of protection for our neuroenvironment, which makes it difficult to communicate with the implanted electrodes. Glial cells try to block everything they consider or perceive as a foreign body. At present, the development of antifouling and simultaneously harmless microelectrodes still represents a serious problem without a final solution. Experiments in this direction are carried out continuously. Electrodes made of nanotubes, electrodes with a special coating are offered, it is possible to replace electrical impulses with light signals (tested on animals), but it is too early to declare that the problem has been completely solved.
Information sources:
http://vpk-news.ru/articles/19099
http://www.gazeta.ru/science/2013/11/08_a_5740649.shtml
http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=1125606
http://www.nanonewsnet.ru/news/2013/reks-pervyi-v-mire-bionicheskii-chelovek
Information