Hitachi Develops Brain-Machine Interface

Hitachi has developed a "brain-machine interface". It analyzes slight changes in the brain's blood flow and translates brain motion into electric signals.

Hitachi demonstrated this technology at its Advanced Research Laboratory in Hatoyama near Tokyo. A cap has optical fibres connected to a mapping device which in turn, to a toy train set via a control computer and motor. The host performs some simple calculations in his head and the train springs to action, apparently indicating activity in the brain's frontal cortex, which handles problem solving.
A key advantage to Hitachi's technology is that sensors don't have to physically enter the brain. Earlier technologies developed by U.S. companies required implanting a chip under the skull.