British defence company Ultra Electronics unveiled a working prototype of a mind-controlled drone at the Three Counties Defence and Security Expo (3CDSE) in Malvern, England, on 4 November.
All the pilot has to do is to focus their attention and eyes on specific circles on a computer screen.
This new technology was developed by Ultra Electronics, a British company working in the defence and security industry. The drone and the brain sensor were already available on the market, so Ultra Electronics designed a software to make the two devices work together. Although the laptop does have a webcam, it is not used to look at the user — the focus of the mind on the circles instructs the drone what to do via the brain sensor worn on the user’s head.
“So what happens is that we create some icons, we call them tags, and they have like a signal within them,” explains Tony White, CTO of land systems at Ultra Electronics. “And when you stare at that, your eye responds to it in a particular way. The way in which the eye response occurs is a signal that we pick up on the visual cortex of the brain, at the back of the brain. So the sensor is looking for the signals we create here that come through the eyeball through the brain and then onto the visual cortex. Once we’ve got it there as a signal, we can grab that, we understand what that signal looks like and we can turn that into a command for whatever we’re trying to control.”
There are four circles on the computer screen in total: two big ones for take-off and landing, and two small ones for spinning left and right. The advantage of this technology is to reduce the number of hand-held controllers for soldiers.
“So this device is all about providing control of other devices the soldier might carry. And when you think about what a soldier does, most of his time he wants his hands on a weapon. And each time I’ve got to take my hands off the weapon to do something, I may, may, be vulnerable. So by having this device, it allows him to be in control of things once he’s still got his hands on the weapon,” says White.
The prototype was designed in partnership with Neuro8, a neuroscience consultancy company founded by Ellen Kay. She led trainings for Ultra Electronics employees and helped the drone project by helping the pilots focus.
“So what happens is, is that having gone through the training, the organisation had a much better understanding of the individual and how the brain and body communicate. And from a soldier’s wellbeing and welfare that’s just as important as them optimising their performance. So how this worked for us is that they developed the technology and I used all of the techniques that I’ve learnt through the training and through the coaching to use the technology to show how the human can improve their performance and reduce their cognitive burden, to use this technology better,” explains Kay.
The drone was demoed at the Three Counties Defence and Security Expo (3CDSE) in Malvern, England, on 4 November. This mind controlling is an example of a brain-computer interface (BCI), meaning a technology that is able to understand the brain and translate what the user thinks into actions.
On stage and in front of an audience, the drone was also used by a person who had never used it before. After a 2-minute calibration process, the new pilot was able to control the drone, make it take off and land on a table, and rotate it in the air.
Source: YouTube