DARPA is the US military department responsible for developing cutting edge technologies for use on the front line. Boasting an annual budget of billions and with some of the world’s smartest minds on its roster, DARPA is responsible for some of the world’s most exciting tech. And it has now emerged the secretive research arm is advancing brain-machine interface capable of allowing soldiers to telepathically control “active cyber defence systems” and “swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles”.
Professor Jacob Robinson of Rice University, the DARPA research team co-ordinator, explained to Express.co.uk how the project plans to “tap into the brain”.
He said: “We can already access really rich information through surgery.
“This is important is because there is a communication latency that when we try and interact with the world.
There is a delay between my thought and the movement of the muscles required to interface with the external world.
“So the idea is if we can communicate from the brain to the external world without having to move a muscle then we could have a much faster communication with external devices.”
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DARPA propose to create a wearable headset to allowing to send a signal to an external device such as a drone or a computer and get a signal back into my brain in tenth of a second.
Professor Robinson said: “We know signals generated by the cells in our brain have a speed of about 100 bits/second, so every second there are 100 signals being sent from individual cells.
“We don’t think about speed so much as the distance it travels, rather the amount of information transferred in a particular amount of time.
“If I wanted to type a message, I might be able to communicate with my fingers at 100 words per second.
“But with my thoughts I might be able to communicate 10 times that speed.”
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DARPA has set an ambitious deadline to begin testing the tech on humans, once FDA approval is granted.
The team co-ordinator told Express.co.uk: “If everything goes to plan, the technology will be used in humans in four years time.
“Following the clinical trials we can imagine consumer products being developed, involving a traditional transition and those development time could range between 10-20 years.”
And the cutting-edge technology’s applications will not only be restricted to controlling drones and military computers.
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Applications also include therapies for people who have lost the ability to receive sensory information or to communicate.
Professor Robinson explained: “Applications can include patients who are ‘locked in’ or paralysed and we also think this technology could be used in the commercial sector and in the military – perhaps even recreationally, as it allows much faster communication with you computer.”
And the engineer are fully aware they are developing technologies with a significant potential for misuse.
He said: “This concern is even greater when we think about technologies that are going to interact with our brain, which we hold so close to our very identity.
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“And there is additional concern when technologies like these are being developed by the US government, as there is always the potential for them to be misused.
“There will be, for example, concerns over privacy, use of the data and autonomy.
“So for neural technology in particular there is set of guidelines the community is developing, called neural-ethical standards.
“And as we develop this technology, we are in constant contact with ethicists how to protect this technology from misuse.”