Wits biomedical engineers incorporate the human brain as part of a computer network
JOBURG – Researchers in the School of Electrical and Information Engineering at Wits have connected two computers through the human brain.
Researchers in the School of Electrical and Information Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand have connected two computers through the human brain and successfully transmitted words like ‘hello’ and ‘apple’, passively, without the user being aware that a message is present.
This research of incorporating the human brain as part of a computer network is believed to be a world-first. Dubbed BrainConnect, the proof-of-concept innovation is under review for publication in the journal Communications in Information Systems.
“We don’t know of anywhere else where the brain has been used to connect two disconnected computers,” said Adam Pantanowitz, lecturer in the School of Electrical and Information Engineering at Wits and co-author of the paper with Wits alumni Rushil N Daya and Michael N Dukes.
BrainConnect links light, signal transmission, the visual cortex of the human brain, and two computers and works by attaching a device to a person’s head, which links the two computers. The person passively stares at a flashing light whilst a word, for example, ‘apple’, is encoded in the light signal.
The flashing light stimulates the visual cortex in the brain and an electroencephalogram, EEG – a test that detects electrical activity in the brain, wirelessly transmits information to a second computer, which decodes the signals to appear on the second computer.
“You can think of it like Morse code via light signals,” said Pantanowitz.
Pantanowitz and Dukes demonstrated BrainConnect live on MNet’s Carte Blanche on Sunday, 24 February. They wired-up presenter, Claire Mawisa, and showed how BrainConnect transmitted words through the brain while using the brain to connect to the Internet in real time (Brainternet).
Although BrainConnect is fledgeling research, Pantanowitz said this brain-computer interface [BCI] may have applications in eye-gaze devices.
“BrainConnect works simply through a light stimulus of the visual cortex. Similar eye-gaze devices serve as assistive tech to empower motor-impaired people or paraplegics. This opens up research questions about the uniqueness of brain signatures,” he said.
Pantanowitz said there was potential for Africa to advance brain-computer interfaces and other assistive technologies.
