Coincidentally, after I finished my post yesterday, I had an email in my inbox from a friend with a link to this article from The Daily Galaxy. The article discusses a University of Florida study about using a BCI combined with learning algorithms to teach rats how to do a successively harder task.
The computer, on the other hand, was programmed to earn as many points as possible by figuring out how to help the rat. The closer a rat moved the arm to the target, the more points the computer received, which helped the computer determine which brain signals lead to the most rewards. The computer then knew how to streamline the process to make it more efficient and ultimately easier for the rats.
This type of work could have interesting implications for augmented reality. Using visual cues, any number of programs could help you improve at a particular task. Analyzing your arm motions and mental state, calculating the distance to the net and giving visual cues through AR goggles; a computer algorithm could help a person, or maybe even a rat, to become a better free throw shooter.
