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Australian Army soldiers command robots with their ‘brain waves’

Australian Army soldiers command robots with their ‘brain waves’

In May, members from 5 CSSB and the 1st/15th RNSW Lancers controlled a robot dog’s movements with their “brain waves” at Majura Training Area.

In May, members from 5 CSSB and the 1st/15th RNSW Lancers controlled a robot dog’s movements with their “brain waves” at Majura Training Area.

Sergeant Damian Robinson of the 5th Combat Service Support Battalion and Sergeant Chandan Rana of the 1st/15th Royal New South Wales Lancers successfully commanded a robot dog to move between locations through the use of an augmented reality lens and biosensors, Defence has confirmed.

The trial, which occurred in May, was achieved through the projection of white squares – that represented waypoints – on SGT Robinson’s augmented reality lens, while a graphene biosensor monitor that was attached to the operator’s head analysed brainwaves from his visual cortex.

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According to Defence, the biosensor could identify when SGT Robinson focused on a particular white square, which was then interpreted into a command for the robot dog through an artificial intelligence decoder.

The technology employed throughout the test was a HoloLens that had been integrated with University of Technology Sydney-developed technology that controlled the robotic dog.

“The whole process is not difficult to master. It’s very intuitive. It only took a couple of sessions,” SGT Robinson said.

Defence confirmed that the operator required eight two-hour sessions to manage the system.

The system enabled the user to move the robot to six pre-determined locations.

“You don’t have to think anything specific to operate the robot, but you do need to focus on that flicker,” he said.

“It’s more of a visual concentration thing.”

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