VOA标准英语2008年-Monkeys Use Brain Signals To Operate Robotic Ar

By Jessica Berman
Washington
28 May 2008

Monkeys have successfully operated robotic arms to feed themselves with human-like precision, activating¹ a mechanical device with signals from their brain. Researchers say the technique could eventually be used to help people who are paralyzed or suffer from neurological disorders² like Lou Gehrig's disease. VOA's Jessica Berman reports.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have done what until now has only been on the drawing board. They have made it possible for a monkey to move a robotic arm with brain signals.

Experts say the technology could help individuals who are paralyzed due to spinal³ cord injuries or who are unable to move to due conditions such as Lou Gehrig's disease.

In a study published this week in the journal Nature, researchers report they have made it possible for two monkeys to feed themselves marshmallows and chunks⁴ of fruit with human-like precision using a robotic arm activated⁵ by signals from a region of the brain known as the cerebral⁶ cortex.

During the experiments, the monkeys' arms were tied to their sides and the robotic arm was placed at the shoulder.

Senior study author Andrew Schwartz of the University of Pittsburgh's School of Medicine says thin wires placed in the animals' brains detected movement signals given off by about one hundred neurons or nerve cells in the motor cortex.

Schwartz says the signals were then fed into a computer, which generates movement in the robot arm that is extremely life-like.

"Using this in a really natural way, the movement is smooth," said Andrew Schwartz. "It has the same kind of velocity⁷ profile and movement characteristics as a real movement would."

Schwartz says researchers can only speculate how the primates⁸ learn to use the robotic arm.

"It's hard to ask the monkeys what they are feeling," he said. "But it seems to me that it would be like the kind of skill that you have when you work a mouse and look at the cursor on your computer screen. It doesn't take very long before you are just thinking about the cursor and you are not considering about what your hand is doing at all."

In fact, your hand is moving on the table top and your cursor is moving on the screen, which is perpendicular⁹, but you don't make that transformation¹⁰ consciously."

Schwartz says researchers are working to increase the flexibility¹¹ of the robotic prosthetic by adding wrist and finger joint¹² movements.

1 activating   

活动的，活性的

参考例句：

• "I didn't say we'd got to stop activating the masses! “我并没说就此不发动！ 来自子夜部分
• Presumably both the very small size and activating influence of fluorine atoms contribute to this exception. 这大概是由于氟原子半径小和活性高这两个原因的影响，氟原子对这种例外做出了贡献。

2 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

4 chunks   

厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分

参考例句：

• a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
• Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？

5 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

6 cerebral   

adj.脑的，大脑的；有智力的，理智型的

参考例句：

• Your left cerebral hemisphere controls the right-hand side of your body.你的左半脑控制身体的右半身。
• He is a precise,methodical,cerebral man who carefully chooses his words.他是一个一丝不苟、有条理和理智的人，措辞谨慎。

7 velocity   

n.速度，速率

参考例句：

• Einstein's theory links energy with mass and velocity of light.爱因斯坦的理论把能量同质量和光速联系起来。
• The velocity of light is about 300000 kilometres per second.光速约为每秒300000公里。

8 primates   

primate的复数

参考例句：

• Primates are alert, inquisitive animals. 灵长目动物是机灵、好奇的动物。
• Consciousness or cerebration has been said to have emerged in the evolution of higher primates. 据说意识或思考在较高级灵长类的进化中已出现。

9 perpendicular   

adj.垂直的，直立的；n.垂直线，垂直的位置

参考例句：

• The two lines of bones are set perpendicular to one another.这两排骨头相互垂直。
• The wall is out of the perpendicular.这墙有些倾斜。

10 transformation   

n.变化；改造；转变

参考例句：

• Going to college brought about a dramatic transformation in her outlook.上大学使她的观念发生了巨大的变化。
• He was struggling to make the transformation from single man to responsible husband.他正在努力使自己由单身汉变为可靠的丈夫。

11 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

12 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。