Miguel Nicolelis: A monkey that controls a robot with its thoughts. No, really.

Translator: Timothy Covell Reviewer: Morton Bast

Translator: Karmelina Husejnovic Reviewer: Nina Ivančič

The kind of neuroscience that I do and my colleagues do

Nevroznanost, s katero se ukvarjamo jaz in moji kolegi

is almost like the weatherman.

je skoraj kot napovedovanje vremena.

We are always chasing storms.

Vedno se podimo za nevihtami.

We want to see and measure storms -- brainstorms, that is.

Želimo videti in izmeriti nevihte - tiste v možganih, pravzaprav.

And we all talk about brainstorms in our daily lives,

In v vsakdanjem življenju pogosto govorimo o možganskih nevihtah,

but we rarely see or listen to one.

ampak redko kdaj kakšno tudi vidimo ali ji prisluhnemo.

So I always like to start these talks

Zato vedno rad začnem svoj govor

by actually introducing you to one of them.

s tem, da vas seznanim z eno od teh.

Actually, the first time we recorded more than one neuron --

Pravzaprav, prvič ko smo zabeležili več kot en nevron --

a hundred brain cells simultaneously --

na stotine možganskih celic hkrati -

we could measure the electrical sparks

smo lahko izmerili električne iskrice,

of a hundred cells in the same animal,

ki jih je proizvajalo sto celic iste živali,

this is the first image we got,

to je bila prva slika, ki smo jo dobili,

the first 10 seconds of this recording.

prvih 10 sekund tega posnetka.

So we got a little snippet of a thought,

Tako smo dobili majhen košček misli

and we could see it in front of us.

in lahko smo ga videli pred nami.

I always tell the students

Študentom vedno povem,

that we could also call neuroscientists some sort of astronomer,

da bi lahko nevroznanstvenikom rekli tudi neke vrste astronomi,

because we are dealing with a system

saj se ukvarjamo s sistemom,

that is only comparable in terms of number of cells

ki ga lahko zaradi števila celic primerjamo le s

to the number of galaxies that we have in the universe.

številom galaksij v vesolju.

And here we are, out of billions of neurons,

In tukaj smo, izmed milijarde nevronov

just recording, 10 years ago, a hundred.

smo jih pred 10 leti posneli le sto.

We are doing a thousand now.

Zdaj jih lahko že tisoč.

And we hope to understand something fundamental about our human nature.

In upamo, da bomo razumeli nekaj temeljnega o naši človeški naravi.

Because, if you don't know yet,

Kajti, če še ne veste,

everything that we use to define what human nature is comes from these storms,

vse, kar uporabljamo, da bi definirali, kaj je človeška narava, prihaja iz teh neviht,

comes from these storms that roll over the hills and valleys of our brains

prihaja iz teh neviht, ki se premikajo čez hribčke in doline naših možganov

and define our memories, our beliefs,

in določajo naše spomine, naša prepričanja,

our feelings, our plans for the future.

naše občutke, naše načrte za prihodnost.

Everything that we ever do,

Vse, kar kdajkoli naredimo,

everything that every human has ever done, do or will do,

vse, kar je katerikoli človek kdajkoli naredil, dela ali bo naredil,

requires the toil of populations of neurons producing these kinds of storms.

zahteva trdo delo populacij nevronov, ki proizvajajo takšne nevihte.

And the sound of a brainstorm, if you've never heard one,

In zvok možganske nevihte, če je še niste slišali,

is somewhat like this.

zveni nekako takole.

You can put it louder if you can.

Lahko date še bolj na glas, če gre.

My son calls this "making popcorn while listening to a badly-tuned A.M. station."

Moj sin temu pravi "pripravljanje pokovke med poslušanjem slabo uglašene A.M. postaje".

This is a brain.

To so možgani.

This is what happens when you route these electrical storms to a loudspeaker

To se zgodi, ko usmerite te električne nevihte v zvočnik

and you listen to a hundred brain cells firing,

in ko poslušate iskrenje stotine možganskih celic,

your brain will sound like this -- my brain, any brain.

vaši možgani bi zveneli tako -- moji, katerikoli.

And what we want to do as neuroscientists in this time

In kaj bi radi kot nevroznanstveniki zdaj naredili

is to actually listen to these symphonies, these brain symphonies,

je, da bi dejansko prisluhnili tem simfonijam, tem možganskim simfonijam,

and try to extract from them the messages they carry.

in da bi iz njih izluščili sporočila, ki jih nosijo.

In particular, about 12 years ago

Če smo bolj natančni, pred 12-imi leti

we created a preparation that we named brain-machine interfaces.

smo ustvarili pripravo, ki smo ji rekli vmesnik med možgani in strojem.

And you have a scheme here that describes how it works.

In tukaj je skica, ki kaže, kako ta deluje.

The idea is, let's have some sensors that listen to these storms, this electrical firing,

Ideja je ta: postavimo nekaj senzorjev, ki prisluškujejo tem nevihtam, tem električnim dražljajem

and see if you can, in the same time that it takes

in poglejmo, če lahko v istem času, kot ga potrebuje

for this storm to leave the brain and reach the legs or the arms of an animal --

ta nevihta, da zapusti možgane in doseže noge ali roke živali --

about half a second --

okoli pol sekunde --

let's see if we can read these signals,

poglejmo, če lahko preberemo te singale,

extract the motor messages that are embedded in it,

izluščimo motorična sporočila, ki so skrita v njih,

translate it into digital commands

jih prevedemo v digitalne ukaze

and send it to an artificial device

in jih pošljemo v umetno napravo,

that will reproduce the voluntary motor wheel of that brain in real time.

ki bo zagnala motorično kolesje v realnem času, tako kot možgani.

And see if we can measure how well we can translate that message

In poskusimo izmeriti, kako dobro lahko prevedemo to sporočilo

when we compare to the way the body does that.

v primerjavi s tem, kako to stori telo.

And if we can actually provide feedback,

In če lahko dejansko dobimo odziv,

sensory signals that go back from this robotic, mechanical, computational actuator

senzorične signale, ki gredo od tega robotskega, mehanskega, računalniškega pogona,

that is now under the control of the brain,

ki je zdaj pod kontrolo možganov,

back to the brain,

nazaj v možgane,

how the brain deals with that,

kako se ti soočijo z njimi,

of receiving messages from an artificial piece of machinery.

s sporočili, ki jih pošilja umetna naprava.

And that's exactly what we did 10 years ago.

In prav to smo storili pred 10-imi leti.

We started with a superstar monkey called Aurora

Začeli smo z zvezdniško opico Auroro,

that became one of the superstars of this field.

ki je postala prava zvezda tega področja.

And Aurora liked to play video games.

In Aurora je uživala v video igrah.

As you can see here,

Kot vidite tukaj,

she likes to use a joystick, like any one of us, any of our kids, to play this game.

pri tej igri zelo rada uporablja igralno palico, tako kot mi ali naši otroci.

And as a good primate, she even tries to cheat before she gets the right answer.

Kot pravi primat, skuša celo goljufati, preden ugane pravi odgovor.

So even before a target appears that she's supposed to cross

Torej, še preden se pojavi tarča, ki jo mora zadeti

with the cursor that she's controlling with this joystick,

s kurzorjem, ki ga upravlja z igralno palico,

Aurora is trying to find the target, no matter where it is.

skuša Aurora najti tarčo, ne glede na to, kje je.

And if she's doing that,

In, če to počne,

because every time she crosses that target with the little cursor,

zato ker vsakič, ko zadane tarčo s kurzorjem,

she gets a drop of Brazilian orange juice.

dobi kapljico brazilskega pomarančnega soka.

And I can tell you, any monkey will do anything for you

In lahko vam povem, vsaka opica bo naredila vse za vas,

if you get a little drop of Brazilian orange juice.

če ji ponudite malce brazilskega pomarančnega soka.

Actually any primate will do that.

Pravzaprav, vsak primat bi ravnal tako.

Think about that.

Razmislite malce.

Well, while Aurora was playing this game, as you saw,

No, medtem ko je Aurora igrala to igro, kot ste videli,

and doing a thousand trials a day

naredila je tisoč poskusov na dan

and getting 97 percent correct and 350 milliliters of orange juice,

in v 97% zadela ter zato dobila 350 mililitrov pomarančnega soka,

we are recording the brainstorms that are produced in her head

smo posneli možganske nevihte, ki so se odvile v njeni glavi

and sending them to a robotic arm

in jih poslali v robotsko roko

that was learning to reproduce the movements that Aurora was making.

ki se je učila, kako posnemati Aurorine gibe.

Because the idea was to actually turn on this brain-machine interface

Ideja je namreč bila, da vključimo ta vmesnik med možgani in strojem

and have Aurora play the game just by thinking,

in da Aurora igra igro samo z mislimi,

without interference of her body.

brez uporabe telesa.

Her brainstorms would control an arm

Njeni možgani bi nadzorovali roko,

that would move the cursor and cross the target.

ki bi premikala kurzor, da zadene tarčo.

And to our shock, that's exactly what Aurora did.

In na naše presenečenje, je Aurora točno to storila.

She played the game without moving her body.

Igrala je igrico brez da bi se premikala.

So every trajectory that you see of the cursor now,

Torej, vso premikanje kurzorja, ki ga vidimo,

this is the exact first moment she got that.

je prav ta prvi trenutek, ko je to dojela.

That's the exact first moment

Prvi trenutek,

a brain intention was liberated from the physical domains of a body of a primate

ko se je volja možganov osvobodila fizičnih domen telesa tega primata

and could act outside, in that outside world,

in je lahko delovala zunaj, v zunanjem svetu,

just by controlling an artificial device.

samo z usmerjanjem umetne naprave.

And Aurora kept playing the game, kept finding the little target

Aurora je kar naprej igrala in skušala najti majhno tarčo

and getting the orange juice that she wanted to get, that she craved for.

in za to dobila pomarančni sok, ki si ga je želela.

Well, she did that because she, at that time, had acquired a new arm.

No, to je naredila, ker je v tem času, dobila novo roko.

The robotic arm that you see moving here 30 days later,

Robotska roka, ki jo vidite, da se premika, mesec dni po

after the first video that I showed to you,

prvem posnetku, ki sem vam ga pokazal,

is under the control of Aurora's brain

je pod nadzorom Aurorinih možganov,

and is moving the cursor to get to the target.

ki premikajo kurzor, da zadene tarčo.

And Aurora now knows that she can play the game with this robotic arm,

Aurora se zaveda, da lahko igrico igra s to robotsko roko,

but she has not lost the ability to use her biological arms to do what she pleases.

ni pa izgubila sposobnosti, da uporablja svoji biološki roki, da počne, kar hoče.

She can scratch her back, she can scratch one of us, she can play another game.

Lahko si praska hrbet, lahko praska koga od nas, lahko igra drugo igrico.

By all purposes and means,

V vsakem pogledu so

Aurora's brain has incorporated that artificial device

Aurorini možgani sprejeli to umetno napravo

as an extension of her body.

kot podaljšek svojega telesa.

The model of the self that Aurora had in her mind

Predstavo o sebi, ki jo je imela Aurora

has been expanded to get one more arm.

se je razširila tako, da je dobila še eno roko.

Well, we did that 10 years ago.

To smo storili pred 10-imi leti.

Just fast forward 10 years.

Zdaj pa preskočimo 10 let.

Just last year we realized that you don't even need to have a robotic device.

Lani smo odkrili, da sploh ne potrebujemo robotske naprave.

You can just build a computational body, an avatar, a monkey avatar.

Lahko enostavno zgradimo računalniško telo, avatar, opico avatar.

And you can actually use it for our monkeys to either interact with them,

In ga lahko dejansko uporabimo za naše opice, da denimo komuniciramo z njimi,

or you can train them to assume in a virtual world

ali pa jih usposobimo, da v virtualnem svetu prevzamejo

the first-person perspective of that avatar

perspektivo avatarja v prvi osebi

and use her brain activity to control the movements of the avatar's arms or legs.

in uporabijo svoje možganske aktivnosti, da nadzorujejo premikanje avatarjevih rok in nog.

And what we did basically was to train the animals

In kar smo pravzaprav naredili je, da smo učili živali,

to learn how to control these avatars

kako naj upravljajo s temi avatarji

and explore objects that appear in the virtual world.

in odkrivajo predmete, ki se pojavijo v virtualnem svetu.

And these objects are visually identical,

In ti predmeti so vizualno identični,

but when the avatar crosses the surface of these objects,

toda, ko avatar dotakne površino teh predmetov,

they send an electrical message that is proportional to the microtactile texture of the object

ti pošljejo električna sporočila, ki so sorazmerna z mikro otipljivo teksturo predmeta,

that goes back directly to the monkey's brain,

neposredno nazaj v možgane opice

informing the brain what it is the avatar is touching.

in s tem obvesti možgane, kaj je to, česar se avatar dotika.

And in just four weeks, the brain learns to process this new sensation

Samo v štirih tednih se možgani naučijo obdelati te nove občutke

and acquires a new sensory pathway -- like a new sense.

in pridobijo novo senzorično pot -- kot nekakšen nov občutek.

And you truly liberate the brain now

In s tem zares osvobodimo možgane,

because you are allowing the brain to send motor commands to move this avatar.

ker jim dovolimo, da pošljejo motorična navodila, da premikajo avatar.

And the feedback that comes from the avatar is being processed directly by the brain

In odziv, ki pride od avatarja, možgani neposredno obdelajo

without the interference of the skin.

brez informacij, ki bi prišle skozi kožo.

So what you see here is this is the design of the task.

Torej, kar vidite je načrt opravila.

You're going to see an animal basically touching these three targets.

Videli boste žival, ki se v bistvu dotika teh treh tarč.

And he has to select one because only one carries the reward,

Izbrati mora eno, kajti le za eno se skriva nagrada:

the orange juice that they want to get.

pomarančni sok, ki si ga tako želi.

And he has to select it by touch using a virtual arm, an arm that doesn't exist.

Izbrati jo mora z dotikom, z virtualno roko, z roko, ki ne obstaja.

And that's exactly what they do.

In prav to bo naredila.

This is a complete liberation of the brain

To je popolna osvoboditev možganov

from the physical constraints of the body and the motor in a perceptual task.

od fizičnih preprek telesa in motorike v zaznavni nalogi.

The animal is controlling the avatar to touch the targets.

Žival upravlja z avatarjem, da bi se dotaknila tarče.

And he's sensing the texture by receiving an electrical message directly in the brain.

In ob tem zaznava teksturo, ker prejema električna sporočila neposredno v možgane.

And the brain is deciding what is the texture associated with the reward.

In možgani odločajo o tem, kakšna je tekstura, ki je povezana z nagrado.

The legends that you see in the movie don't appear for the monkey.

Legende, ki jih vidimo v filmih, se ne pojavijo pri opici.

And by the way, they don't read English anyway,

In mimogrede, tako ali tako ne znajo brati angleško,

so they are here just for you to know that the correct target is shifting position.

tako da so tu samo zato, da vidite, da prava tarča premika položaj.

And yet, they can find them by tactile discrimination,

In kljub temu, jo lahko odkrije na podlagi otipljivih razlik,

and they can press it and select it.

jo pritisne in izbere.

So when we look at the brains of these animals,

In ko pogledamo možgane teh živali,

on the top panel you see the alignment of 125 cells

na zgornjem grafu vidimo postavitev 125 celic,

showing what happens with the brain activity, the electrical storms,

ki kažejo, kaj se zgodi z možgansko aktivnostjo, električne nevihte

of this sample of neurons in the brain

tega vzorca nevronov v možganih,

when the animal is using a joystick.

ko žival uporablja igralno palico.

And that's a picture that every neurophysiologist knows.

In to je slika, ki jo pozna vsak nevrofiziolog.

The basic alignment shows that these cells are coding for all possible directions.

Osnovna postavitev kaže, da te celice pošiljajo kode za vse možne smeri.

The bottom picture is what happens when the body stops moving

Na spodnji sliki pa vidimo, kaj se zgodi, ko se telo neha premikati

and the animal starts controlling either a robotic device or a computational avatar.

in žival začne upravljati bodisi z robotsko napravo ali računalniškim avatarjem.

As fast as we can reset our computers,

Takoj, ko resetiramo naše računalnike,

the brain activity shifts to start representing this new tool,

se možganska aktivnost premakne, tako da začne predstavljati to novo orodje

as if this too was a part of that primate's body.

kakor da je del živalskega telesa.

The brain is assimilating that too, as fast as we can measure.

Možgani to asimilirajo tako hitro, kot mi lahko izmerimo.

So that suggests to us that our sense of self

To nam torej namiguje, da se naše občutenje samega sebe

does not end at the last layer of the epithelium of our bodies,

ne konča pri zadnjem sloju povrhnjice našega telesa

but it ends at the last layer of electrons of the tools that we're commanding with our brains.

ampak se konča pri zadnjem sloju elektronov orodja, ki ga upravljamo z našimi možgani.

Our violins, our cars, our bicycles, our soccer balls, our clothing --

Naše violine, naših avtomobilov, naših koles, naše nogometne žoge, naše obleke --

they all become assimilated by this voracious, amazing, dynamic system called the brain.

vse se asimilira s tem neutrudnim, neverjetnim, dinamičnim sistemom, ki mu rečemo možgani.

How far can we take it?

Kako daleč lahko gremo?

Well, in an experiment that we ran a few years ago, we took this to the limit.

No, v poskusu, ki smo ga opravili pred nekaj leti, smo prišli do meje.

We had an animal running on a treadmill

Žival smo spravili v tek na tekočem traku

at Duke University on the East Coast of the United States,

na Duke Univerzi na Vzhodni obali Združenih držav,

producing the brainstorms necessary to move.

tako da smo proizvajali možganske nevihte, ki so povzročale gibanje.

And we had a robotic device, a humanoid robot,

Imeli smo robotsko napravo,

in Kyoto, Japan at ATR Laboratories

v ATR laboratorijih v Kjotu, na Japonskem,

that was dreaming its entire life to be controlled by a brain,

ki je vse svoje življenje sanjal o tem, da bi ga vodili možgani,

a human brain, or a primate brain.

človeški možgani ali možgani kakšnega primata.

What happens here is that the brain activity that generated the movements in the monkey

Kaj se je zgodilo tukaj: možgansko aktivnost, ki je proizvedla premikanje opice,

was transmitted to Japan and made this robot walk

so prenesli na Japonsko in tako spravili robota v gibanje,

while footage of this walking was sent back to Duke,

medtem ko so posnetek te hoje poslali nazaj na Duke,

so that the monkey could see the legs of this robot walking in front of her.

da je lahko opica videla noge robota, kako hodijo pred njo.

So she could be rewarded, not by what her body was doing

Tako je dobila nagrado, ne zato, ker bi naredila nekaj s svojim telesom,

but for every correct step of the robot on the other side of the planet

pač pa za vsak pravilen korak robota na drugem koncu planeta,

controlled by her brain activity.

ki ga je upravljala s svojimi možgani.

Funny thing, that round trip around the globe took 20 milliseconds less

Smešno je, da je je to potovanje okoli zemlje trajalo 20 milisekund manj

than it takes for that brainstorm to leave its head, the head of the monkey,

kot potrebuje možganska nevihta, da zapusti glavo, torej glavo opice,

and reach its own muscle.

in doseže njeno lastno mišico.

The monkey was moving a robot that was six times bigger, across the planet.

Opica je premikala robota, ki je bil šest krat večji od nje in na drugem koncu planeta.

This is one of the experiments in which that robot was able to walk autonomously.

To je eden od eksperimentov, v katerem robot lahko samostojno hodi.

This is CB1 fulfilling its dream in Japan

To je CB1, ki uresničuje svoje sanje na Japonskem,

under the control of the brain activity of a primate.

s pomočjo možganske aktivnosti opice.

So where are we taking all this?

Kam torej vodi vse to?

What are we going to do with all this research,

Kaj bomo naredili s to raziskavo,

besides studying the properties of this dynamic universe that we have between our ears?

razen seveda, da bomo preučili lastnosti tega dinamičnega vesolja, ki je med našimi ušesi?

Well the idea is to take all this knowledge and technology

No, ideja je, da bi vzeli vso to znanje in tehnologijo

and try to restore one of the most severe neurological problems that we have in the world.

in skušali odpraviti eno največjih nevroloških težav, ki jih imamo.

Millions of people have lost the ability to translate these brainstorms

Milijoni ljudi so izgubili zmožnost, da prevedejo te možganske nevihte

into action, into movement.

v dejanje, v gibanje.

Although their brains continue to produce those storms and code for movements,

Čeprav njihovi možgani še naprej proizvajajo te nevihte in kodirajo gibanje,

they cannot cross a barrier that was created by a lesion on the spinal cord.

ne morejo prečkati ovire, ki jo je ustvarila poškodba hrbtenjače.

So our idea is to create a bypass,

Naša zamisel je torej, da bi naredili obvod,

is to use these brain-machine interfaces to read these signals,

da bi uporabili te vmesnike med možgani in napravo, ki bi brali te signale,

larger-scale brainstorms that contain the desire to move again,

obsežnejše možganske nevihte, ki vsebujejo željo po premikanju,

bypass the lesion using computational microengineering

da bi obšli poškodbo z uporabo računalniškega mikroinženiringa

and send it to a new body, a whole body called an exoskeleton,

in jih poslali novemu telesu, telesu, ki mu pravimo eksoskelet,

a whole robotic suit that will become the new body of these patients.

celotna robotska obleka, ki bi postala novo telo teh bolnikov.

And you can see an image produced by this consortium.

In tukaj vidite sliko, ki jo je ustvaril ta konzorcij.

This is a nonprofit consortium called the Walk Again Project

To je neprofitni konzorcij, ki se imenuje projekt "Znova shodi"

that is putting together scientists from Europe,

in združuje znanstvenike iz Evrope,

from here in the United States, and in Brazil

iz Združenih držav Amerike in Brazilije,

together to work to actually get this new body built --

ki si skupaj prizadevajo, da bi dejansko naredili to novo telo --

a body that we believe, through the same plastic mechanisms

telo, za katerega verjamemo, da bo šlo skozi iste plastične mehanizme,

that allow Aurora and other monkeys to use these tools through a brain-machine interface

ki dopuščajo, da Aurora in ostale opice, uporabljajo ta orodja preko vmesnika med možgani in napravo,

and that allows us to incorporate the tools that we produce and use in our daily life.

kar nam omogoča, da vključimo orodja, ki jih proizvajamo in uporabljamo v vsakdanjem življenju.

This same mechanism, we hope, will allow these patients,

Ta isti mehanizem, upamo, bo omogočil tem bolnikom,

not only to imagine again the movements that they want to make

ne le, da si znova zamislijo gibe, ki bi jih radi naredili

and translate them into movements of this new body,

in jih prevedejo v gibanje tega novega telesa,

but for this body to be assimilated as the new body that the brain controls.

ampak, da bo to telo sprejeto kot novo telo, ki ga upravljajo možgani.

So I was told about 10 years ago

Pred 10 leti so mi rekli,

that this would never happen, that this was close to impossible.

da se to ne bo nikoli zgodilo, da je to skoraj nemogoče.

And I can only tell you that as a scientist,

In kot znanstvenik vam lahko povem le,

I grew up in southern Brazil in the mid-'60s

da sem med odraščanjem na jugu Brazilije sredi 60. let,

watching a few crazy guys telling [us] that they would go to the Moon.

opazoval nekaj norcev, ki so govorili, da bodo šli na Luno.

And I was five years old,

Imel sem 5 let

and I never understood why NASA didn't hire Captain Kirk and Spock to do the job;

in nikoli nisem razumel, zakaj Nasa za ta podvig ni najela kapitana Kirka in Spocka;

after all, they were very proficient --

konec koncev, so to obvladali --

but just seeing that as a kid

ampak ko sem to videl kot otrok

made me believe, as my grandmother used to tell me,

sem začel verjeti, kar mi je nekoč babica govorila,

that "impossible is just the possible

da je "nemogoče - mogoče,

that someone has not put in enough effort to make it come true."

za katerega se nekdo ni dovolj potrudil, da bi se uresničilo."

So they told me that it's impossible to make someone walk.

Tako so mi torej dejali, da je nemogoče, da nekdo znova shodi.

I think I'm going to follow my grandmother's advice.

Mislim, da bom sledil babičin nasvet.

Thank you.

Hvala za pozornost.

(Applause)

(Aplavz)