EAGER: Controlling a Robotic Third Hand - Exploring Use of Distributed Intelligence from Autonomy to Brain Machine Interfaces for Augmenting Human Capability

该项目旨在确定人类大脑是否具有足够的自适应能力，即可塑性，以操作大脑控制的机器人设备来执行需要与人的自然四肢持续协调和同步的任务。这些任务是指那些一只手（或肢体）的动作依赖于另一只手（或肢体）的动作的任务，这里扩展到包括机器人设备，例如独立的人工“第三只手”。除了先进的人体假肢外，应用领域还包括协同机器人，作为在危险环境中支持紧急救援人员在野外、空间和海底执行复杂手动操作的助手，特别是在他们需要在没有其他人协助的情况下独立执行操作的情况下。研究结果对人机交互和网络-人类系统的研究和应用具有潜在的变革意义。这项研究进行了一系列非侵入性的人体实验，以确定人类大脑是否具有足够的神经可塑性，可以通过脑机接口，让独立的机器人“第三只手”（一只手的动作依赖于另一只手的动作）进行“不对称依赖”操作，或者人类的四肢和四肢经过250万年的进化，是否在这种能力上受到限制。当我们探索通过脑机技术实现控制来增强人类身体能力的许多问题时，这是一个关键的考虑因素。将不同程度的机器人自主性与人机语言和手势交流控制相结合的设计也被认为是直接大脑控制的补充或替代方案。

This project aims to determine if the human brain has sufficient self-adaptivity, called plasticity, to operate brain-controlled robotic devices in performing tasks that require continuous coordination and synchronization with the person's natural limbs. These tasks are those where the action of one hand (or limb) depends on that of the other, here extended to include a robotic device, such as an unattached artificial "third hand." Besides advanced human prosthetics, application domains include co-robots as aides supporting emergency responders in hazardous environments performing complex manual operations in the field, in space and undersea, particularly where they need to perform independently without the assistance of other persons. The results are potentially transformative for human-computer interaction and cyber-human systems research and applications.The research performs a set of non-invasive human subject experiments to determine whether the human brain may have sufficient neuroplasticity to enable "asymmetric dependent" operation of a detached robotic "third hand" (those in which the action of one hand depends on that of the other) through a brain-machine interface, or whether it may be limited in that capability by 2.5 million years of hominin evolution of our limbs and their extremities. This is a critical consideration as we explore the many issues of augmenting human physical capability with control implemented through brain-machine technology. Designs combining varying degrees of robot autonomy with human-machine verbal and gesture communicated control are also considered as supplements or alternatives to direct brain-control.