Brain Wave Monitoring
The Keio University Biomedical Engineering Laboratory has created a brain-computer interface (BCI) which has allowed them to control their avatar on Second Life. The BCI works connecting through a helmet equipped with electrodes that translates brainwaves into computer language through an EEG machine (Mascari, 2007). Though this has only allowed them to do simple movements like walk round, "there are plans to improve the BCI for more elaborate movements" (Mascari, 2007). The researchers hope to allow physically impaired people to partake in social interaction and even business interactions through Second Life as well as practical applications in the real world.
In 2008, two monkeys were able to move a robotic arm using only their brains (Carey, 2008). In this experiment, the monkeys seemed to incorporate the arm as its own and learn as it used the arm (Carey, 2008). Several times when the monkeys were using their robotic arms to grab snacks in front of them, the monkeys licked the robotic fingers and used the fingers to push food into their mouths as they would with their real arms (Carey, 2008).