MIT introduces Baxter, a brain-controlled robot

Now, you don't have to be vocal, press buttons or pass some specific instructions to control robots; you just have to think, 'you are doing it wrong,' and the robot will recognise and respond to your thoughts.

Meet Baxter, a humanoid robot created by researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and Boston University. The researchers have created a feedback system that allows people to correct robot mistakes spontaneously with their thoughts.

All you have to do is wear a cap called electroencephalography (EEG) monitor that records brain activity and watch the robot. The feedback system reads a person’s brain responses while watching a robot at work. If the robot makes a mistake that the person recognises, the robot is sent a signal to correct its error. Baxter focuses on brain signals called "error-related potentials" (ErrPs) that human minds generate whenever we notice a mistake.

Daniela Rus, director of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), said, "As you watch the robot, all you have to do is mentally agree or disagree with what it is doing. You don't have to train yourself to think in a certain way - the machine adapts to you, and not the other way around."

If the brain doesn’t transmit an ErrP signal, the robot continues to do its job as it was before. Researchers are hoping to refine the system and allow it do more difficult tasks.

"Imagine being able to instantaneously tell a robot to do a certain action, without needing to type a command, push a button or even say a word," Rus further said. "A streamlined approach like that would improve our abilities to supervise factory robots, driverless cars and other technologies we haven't even invented yet."

The team is planning to represent their work at a conference in May.