Honda Unveils Mind-Reading Robot

Honda today demonstrated new technology it hopes will make the Jetsons look old-fashioned. The company unveiled a special helmet that allows its wearer to control a robot by thought alone, the Guardian reports. The helmet scans brain activity and relays it to a computer, which then instructs the robot what to do. The device remains in the primitive stages and is years away from any practical use.

The helmet currently works for only simple movements—making the robot lift an arm or leg, for example. But researchers someday hope that people will be able to turn on the air conditioning or open their car trunk simply by thinking about it. One big hurdle: the vast differences in how individual brains operate.
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