Researchers look to Rice University for nonsurgical brain interfaces to control weapons and computers
Neural interfaces could help warfighters multitask, and interact with autonomous and semi-autonomous systems with artificial intelligence (AI).
ARLINGTON, Va. – U.S. military researchers are moving forward with a project to develop non-invasive or minimally invasive neural interfaces to connect the brains of warfighters to computers or other digital devices to enable fast, effective, and intuitive hands-free interaction with military systems.
Officials of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., announced a $9.8 million order Rice University in Houston on Monday for the Next-Generation Nonsurgical Neurotechnology (N3) program.
Rice University was one of six organizations awarded N3 contracts in May 2019 to develop non-surgical wearable interfaces to connect human brains with computers for tasks like control of active cyber defense systems and swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles, or teaming with computer systems to multitask during complex missions.
Rice University has been working on a minutely invasive, bidirectional system for recording from and writing to the brain. An interface records by using diffuse optical tomography to infer neural activity by measuring light scattering in neural tissue. It writes with a magneto-genetic approach to make neurons sensitive to magnetic fields.