From brain Bluetooth to ‘full RoboCop’: Where chip implants will be heading soon
Mind control: In ‘Robocop’, Peter Weller’s brain-computer interface allowed him to dictate his movements with his thoughts.
In the 1987 classic film , the deceased Detroit cop Alex Murphy is reborn as a cyborg. He has a robotic body and a full brain-computer interface that allows him to control his movements with his mind. He can access online information such as suspects’ faces, uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help detect threats, and his human memories have been integrated with those from a machine.
It is remarkable to think the movie’s key mechanical robotic technologies have almost now been accomplished by the likes of Boston Dynamics’ running, jumping Atlas and Kawasaki’s new four-legged Corleo. Similarly, we are seeing robotic exoskeletons that enable paralysed patients to do things like walking and climbing stairs by responding to their gestures.
