The number of research carried out in the world today, which can turn the events of the acclaimed film "Avatar" by James Cameron, is growing every day and bears tangible results. Such studies are accompanied by a concrete result; not only dreamers and science fiction writers speak about them, but also prominent scientists and leaders, including Russian ones. For example, Dmitry Rogozin not so long ago, in one of his interviews, told reporters that among the projects being implemented by the Russian Foundation for Advanced Study, there is also work to create an avatar.
Today, an avatar is understood as a set of components - a kind of symbiosis of a machine (executive mechanism) and a human brain, which is built on the basis of a neurointerface. If such technologies are implemented in full, a person will be able to control both a separate actuator and the whole machine from a distance with the help of his thoughts. Avatar is a kind of full-fledged "I" at a distance. Everything that happens around the robot-avatar must be fully transmitted to the operator with such a level of confidence that he feels himself to be in the same place as the actuator itself. This is much more difficult to implement than the usual control of a robot at a distance, which has been available since the days of Soviet lunar rovers.
The scientific and technical achievements that have been accumulated over the past half century, in total, already make it possible to replace 60-70% of the functions of the human body. At present, it remains only to analyze what exactly will give us the opportunity to get away from fantasies and move on to the real design of an avatar, since there really is a prerequisite. The achievement of all mankind is the development of a large number of a wide variety of robots, which today acquire the ability not only to solve programmed tasks, but also to independently make decisions, assess the situation. The cognitive abilities of modern robotic systems are getting closer and closer to human capabilities.
Modern large companies have also felt the prospects of this kind of work. For example, Google acquired 8 robotics companies around the world in 2013 alone, in just six months. Among the purchases of the Internet giant is the well-known company Boston Dynamics, as well as the Japanese Shaft. In addition, Google has an interest in bioengineering, and in 2013 Google founded the California Life Company, a biotech company Calico.
The first swallows
Neurophysicists have taken an important step in bringing the avatar closer to reality. They managed to teach monkeys to use two virtual hands, controlling them only with the help of thought. This is an important step in the development of the brain-computer interface. So far, monkeys control virtual hands on a computer screen, you cannot take a real treat with their help. However, by controlling these virtual hands with the help of the brain and solving problems with their help on the monitor screen, the monkeys receive a reward. Virtual hands are the monkey avatar.
These experiments are being conducted today in the laboratory of neurophysiologist Miguel Nicolelis at Duke University Medical Center. The experiment involves two monkeys - a male and a female. Scientists have implanted a record number of microelectrodes in the brain of each of them, which are engaged in recording the electrical activity of brain neurons. 768 electrodes were implanted into the brain of the female, 384 of the male. Until recently, this could not be done by any neurophysiologist in the world.
The microelectrodes are located on special boards that have been located in different areas of the monkey's cerebral cortex. Each of these microelectrodes records electrical impulses from the surrounding neurons. As a result, scientists manage to record the activity of more than 500 neurons in each monkey. At the same time, the monkeys were shown an avatar that could manipulate objects of various shapes. Then they began to learn how to operate it with a joystick.
At the time of this control, scientists were recording the activity of neurons in their brain, building a model based on the data obtained, which made it possible to associate the activity of certain neurons with certain hand movements. At the same time, until recently, all such experiments were carried out with only one hand. The transition to two-handed control with the help of brain activity is a fundamental step forward in development.
The developed model became the basis for the creation of a brain-computer interface, which allows you to switch to controlling virtual hands-avatars with the help of just one thought. This means that the monkey's desire to move its hand to the left or to the right was accompanied by the activity of key neurons in the brain, while the developed interface was engaged in the transformation of this activity into the desired movement of the virtual hand. To decode the activity of neurons, the specialists used an algorithm that they had already created in the framework of previous studies, which were carried out with one hand.
At the moment when the joystick was taken away from the monkeys, with the help of persistent training, they learned with the help of their thoughts to direct the virtual hands on the screen to special targets, keeping them on the targets for some time. Various geometric shapes were used as targets. If the monkeys coped with the task, they received a treat for this. Scientists have trained macaques in several ways. At first, the monkeys' hands were free and they could, as it were, use them to help themselves, doing the same movements as the virtual hand. However, in the second stage, the monkeys' arms were rigidly attached to the chair, leaving only their brains to control the virtual reality.
Another interesting development is the artificial superstrong elastic muscle, which is being created by a team at the National University of Singapore (NSU). According to the chief developer of this technology, Adriana Koch, the main goal is to create muscle tissue that surpasses natural samples. According to her, the materials from which their artificial muscle is made mimic the activity of real human tissues and are able to instantly respond to an incoming electrical impulse. This muscle is said to be able to lift 80 times its own weight. In the near future, in 3-5 years, experts expect to combine this muscle with a robotic arm, which in appearance will be almost indistinguishable from a real human arm, but at the same time 10 times stronger than it.
This technology has other advantages as well. Contractions and movements of artificial muscles can generate a "byproduct" of energy that can be converted from mechanical to electrical energy. Due to the natural properties of the materials used in the artificial muscle, it will be able to retain a fairly large amount of energy. Thanks to this, a robot that receives such muscles can become energetically autonomous and independent. To carry out recharging, he will need no more than a minute of time.
Technologies for the creation of artificial eyes are also being widely developed. Scientists are working to create various retinal prostheses. Even more advances have been made in the development of hearing prostheses. For several years in the United States, patients have been installing a system of a microcomputer, a microphone and electrodes that are connected to the auditory nerves. More than 200,000 patients have already been installed such a system, which suggests that these are no longer isolated experiments of scientists, but everyday clinical practice.
The crown of the creation of modern scientists, demonstrating the assertion that we are able to replace 60-70% of the functions of the human body with artificial implants, was the world's first biorobot "Rex". In such a bionic person, all the established organs - from the eyes to the heart - are artificial. They are all from those that are already being installed on real patients or undergoing a series of tests. Thanks to the existing set of prostheses, "Rex" hears, sees, can walk and function, it is even able to maintain a simple conversation, as it is endowed with simple artificial intelligence.
At the same time, a bionic person does not have enough of his stomach, lungs, and bladder. All these artificial organs have not yet been invented, however, and the development of an artificial brain is still very far away. At the same time, the developers of "Rex" believe that in the near future, any implant will be available to people. Also, scientists believe that someday healthy people will use them, which will replace internal organs as they wear out, and this is a direct path to immortality.
Problems of the "Avatar" technology
In 2013, a regular international conference entitled "Global Future" was held in New York. At this conference, by tradition, the results of the technical groundwork for the large-scale project "Avatar" are summed up. The head of this project, Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov, is engaged in attracting investors all over the world. According to Itskov, in the near future, an artificial body may be created, which, in terms of a number of its functional qualities, will not differ from the original, and in time it will even be able to surpass it. In addition, work is underway to create a technology for transferring a person's personality into this artificial body, which can provide an unlimited life span, give people immortality. Even the date of implementation of the first stage of this program was named - 2045.
Already now the Avatar project is being compared with the greatest achievements in the history of human civilization. Such, for example, as a project to create an atomic bomb, space flight, landing on the moon. At present, there are practically two elements of this program available - the executive mechanisms and the human brain. The main obstacle to the creation of a full-fledged, functioning biomechanical symbiosis between them is the neurointerface - that is, the system of direct and feedback.
When developing such a connection, a large number of questions arise. Here is just one of them: to which of the billion cells in the motor cortex of the human brain is it best to bring electrodes to control, for example, a prosthetic leg? How to find the necessary cells, protect against various interference, ensure the required accuracy, translate the sequence of nerve impulses of the brain cells into precise and understandable commands for the artificial mechanism?
These general implementation questions are followed by a large number of private ones. For example, electrodes that are inserted into the human brain quickly become overgrown with a layer of glial cells. These cells are a kind of protection for our neuroenvironment, which makes it difficult to communicate with the implanted electrodes. Glial cells try to block whatever they perceive or perceive as a foreign body. Currently, the development of antifouling and at the same time harmless microelectrodes is still a serious problem without a final solution. Experiments in this direction are ongoing. We offer electrodes made of nanotubes, electrodes with a special coating, it is possible to replace electrical impulses with light signals (tested on animals), but it is too early to declare a complete solution to the problem.
