Recent advances in the field of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have allowed direct brain control of cursors and prosthetic arms, artificial sensations, and even direct brain-to-brain communication. These advances rely on our ability to decode human intentions directly from the brain and encode artificial sensations and other information into the brain.
This talk by Dr. Rajesh Rao, will present an overview of BCIs and recent developments in the field, with highlights from BCI research at the University of Washington and the Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering. Applications of BCIs range from enabling communication in locked-in patients and restoration of movement in paralyzed and disabled individuals to broader non-medical applications such as security, lie detection, alertness monitoring, entertainment, gaming, education, and potentially, human augmentation.