A groundbreaking device has been created that could allow soldiers to control military equipment and vehicles with just their thoughts.

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Scientists from several universities in the US have created a new “brain-computer interface strip”. The device is connected to the upper neck, picks up on brain signals and converts them to digital information. These signals could be used to steer vehicle or control other computers. Typically, these devices need to be connected to other machines and often require conductive jelly to work

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Woon-Hong Yeo, a researcher of the Georgia Institute of Technology, told Defense One: “We demonstrated that this portable, flexible wearable system can control an electric wheelchair, mini-car, and a software-presentation.” The strip has been designed for people without mobility, but it could have much wider implications. Yeo added: “This system can be used for controlling other devices, including military equipment.”

The paper appears in the current issue of journal Nature Machine Intelligence.

Last year, the US military’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched a new generation of warplanes which are flown by a pilot sitting hundreds of miles away with an implant in their brain. Using sophisticated brain-computer interfaces (BCI), soldiers will be able to pilot up to three jets at once with just their thoughts.

Top US scientists have been working on the scheme since 2015. Back in 2016, a pilot hooked up to a neural implant was able to navigate an aircraft in a flight simulator while keeping two other planes in formation. In 2017, a pilot steered a plane through another simulation, this time by receiving haptic feedback — meaning the implant created a tingling sensation in their hands.

(Excerpt from the Daily Star. Article by Tom Towers.)