Essence:

Man and computers- how deep can computer help mankind? In this fast paced world humans don’t have time and space to take care of themselves. Is man self sufficient and happy within? .Does the activities that man take up daily, bring in happiness of a sustainable nature? Can man control his whole idea of himself? Happiness is sought outside, though the truth is that it has to be sought within one self. This is not just any spiritual explanation but pure science. It’s the brain that controls all our activities, be it a conscious one that we have control over or that takes place in the unconscious mind. Advances in sciences have contributed humans externally. Sophisticated technologies has made external living easy. Yet simple human emotions, expressions are still challenges to the human mind. Man who has sought to resolve all his challenges in the outside world is still tested hard by the challenges within. Frustration, irritation, and other negative emotions still pose hardships to the success of man. In the present scenario of techno living, we are on a platform where man made computers assist man in almost all his tasks... Can computers enter into the inner world? Can happiness be imparted artificially? This is where BCI comes in .Our research is unique in the sense all the present research regarding BCI’s were based on getting signals from the brain and converting the into functionalities,but here we are presenting paper on how to create happiness in man. Our paper seeks to dwell deep into the brain-computer interface and find a platform where computers, the invention of the human brain help the master in its well being.

 The research made by Dr.Christian Opitz and the thirst to come out with innovative ideas ignited our brain with this new concept.





Basic Concept of BCI:

Brain Computer Interface is a device which establishes direct communication pathway
between Brain and other devices, usually a computer. It’s simple to explain, though practically a complex process. The Brain computer Interface device is placed in that part of brain, so that the neurons fired when certain actions are performed are recorded in the BCI.. BCI’s have found profound importance in various fields especially related to medical sciences. For every physical and mental function neurons will be fired in a particular pattern, usually the firings are recorded as a function such as the distance between the neuron cell site and the BCI device .This pattern is recorded and an algorithm is devised for it. Consider a man moving his arms will stimulate certain neuron firings which will be recorded and an algorithm is framed with it, so that artificial hands
can be made to move in the same way. The detailed explanations are dealt with in the following topics.

Prominent Researches:

Phillip Kennedy and colleagues built the first intracortical brain-computer interface by
implanting neurotrophic-cone electrodes into monkeys.
In 1999, researchers led by Garrett Stanley at Harvard University decoded neuronal
firings to reproduce images seen by cats. The team used an array of electrodes embedded
in the thalamus (which integrates all of the brain’s sensory input) of sharp-eyed cats.
Researchers targeted 177 brain cells in the thalamus area, which decodes signals from
the retina. The cats were shown eight short movies, and their neuron firings were
recorded. Using mathematical filters, the researchers decoded the signals to generate
movies of what the cats saw and were able to reconstruct recognizable scenes and
moving objects




Garrett Stanley's recordings of cat vision using a BCI implanted in thalamus region In this the above picture is the original image while the bottom one is the obtained one.

Miguel Nicolelis has been a prominent proponent of using multiple electrodes spread over a greater area of the brain to obtain neuronal signals to drive a BCI. Such neural ensembles are said to reduce the variability in output produced by single electrodes, which could make it difficult to operate a BCI. This is because when Apostolos Georgopoulos at Johns Hopkins University found a mathematical relationship between the electrical responses of single motor-cortex neurons in rhesus macaque monkeys and the direction that monkeys moved their arms. He also found that dispersed groups of neurons in different areas of the brain collectively controlled motor commands but was only able to record the firings of neurons in one area at a time because of technical limitations imposed by his equipment. This problem was overcome by Nicolelis.
After conducting initial studies in rats during the 1990s, Nicolelis and his colleagues developed BCIs that decoded brain activity in owl monkeys and used the devices to reproduce monkey movements in robotic arms. Monkeys have advanced reaching and grasping abilities and good hand manipulation skills, making them ideal test subjects for this kind of work.
By 2000, the group succeeded in building a BCI that reproduced owl monkey movements while the monkey operated a joystick or reached for food. The BCI operated in real time and could also control a separate robot remotely over Internet protocol. But the monkeys could not see the arm moving and did not receive any feedback, a so-called open-loop BCI.



Diagram of the BCI developed by Miguel Nicolelis and colleagues for use on Rhesus monkeys.

Other labs that develop BCIs and algorithms that decode neuron signals include John Donoghue from Brown University, Andrew Schwartz from the University of Pittsburgh and Richard Andersen from Caltech. These researchers were able to produce working BCIs even though they recorded signals from far fewer neurons than Nicolelis (15–30 neurons versus 50–200 neurons).

Implementations:

BCI research has targeted repairing damaged sight and providing new functionality to paralyzed people. Invasive BCIs are implanted directly into the grey matter of the brain during neurosurgery. Partially invasive BCI devices are implanted inside the skull but rest outside the brain rather than amidst the grey matter. They produce better resolution signals than non-invasive BCIs.Also researches are done with non-Invasive BCI devices.
Signals recorded in this way have been used to power muscle implants and restore partial movement in an experimental volunteer. Although they are easy to wear, non-invasive implants produce poor signal resolution.
One of the first scientists to come up with a working brain interface to restore sight was private researcher, William Dobelle.
Dobelle's first prototype was implanted into Jerry, a man blinded in adulthood, in 1978. A single-array BCI containing 68 electrodes was implanted onto Jerry’s visual cortex and succeeded in producing phosphenes, the sensation of seeing light. The system included TV cameras mounted on glasses to send signals to the implant. Initially the implant allowed Jerry to see shades of grey in a limited field of vision and at a low frame-rate also requiring him to be hooked up to a two-ton mainframe. Shrinking electronics and faster computers made his artificial eye more portable and allowed him to perform simple tasks unassisted.


Jens Naumann, a man with acquired blindness

In 2002, Jens Naumann, also blinded in adulthood, became the first in a series of 16 paying patients to receive Dobelle’s second generation implant, marking one of the earliest commercial uses of BCIs.



The Difference:
For the past 30 years intensive researches have been done to crack the “ULTIMATE” and understand the truth. As the years progress the achievements done with the research are also innumerable. All these researches were targeted in decoding signals from brain and recreating the functionality artificially. But our paper suggests a simple modification. But this would change the ultimate research progression ,because though physical disabilities are bane, the ultimate problem is suffering and unhappiness. What if happiness could be brought artificially. This is where we made the difference .While all other researches were dealing with external fulfillment such as restoring vision or any other disability our paper suggests the ultimate goal of inducing happiness in man.

My Research:

With reference to the research done by Dr. Christian Opitz a neuro physicist