Extraction of motor and sensory commands in the brain using a sparsely-distributed brain-machine interface

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K17684
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Intelligent robotics; Brain biometrics
• Research Institution: National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (2019-2023); The University of Tokyo (2017-2018)
• Principal Investigator: Fukayama Osamu 国立研究開発法人情報通信研究機構, 未来ICT研究所脳情報通信融合研究センター, 研究員 (30508205)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: ブレイン・マシンインタフェース

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This project aimed to distribute neural electrodes in wide regions of the brain and to collect neural activities related to sensory and motor functions in order to gather information related to sensory inputs and motor outputs. During the first half of the project (until 2019), a recording and stimulating system for a rat brain was built to develop an omnidirectional maneuver by mounting a rat on it. In addition, a method to drive a rat to walk spontaneously was conceived, implemented, and evaluated. In the latter half of the project (after 2020), the features and decoding methods for handling neural signals were discussed.

Free Research Field

ブレイン・マシンインタフェース

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

脳内への電極留置を伴う脳インタフェースでは、電極数が多くなるほど情報量が増える一方、脳組織への侵襲性が大きくなる。本研究計画は、比較的少数の電極を脳の広域に分散配置し、情報入出力の点で効率的な手法の実現を目指したものである。研究成果からは、脳インタフェース実現に向けた情報の取扱い技術について知見が得られたほか、動物の行動へ効果的な介入手法が派生的に開発された。