Neuroengineering
from Keio's Faculty of Science and Technology Just concentrate your wish on a machine,
and it will move as you wish . . .
The world of Brain-Machine Interface (BMI)

{"image":"16052","alt":"","description":"BMI directly moves a wheelchair, electrical appliance, artificial arm, avatar and the like by reading the brain’s motion instructions from brain waves and analyzing them using a computer. Much is expected of the BMI as a technology that may enhance the quality of life for patients suffering from damage to the spinal cord or limb dismemberment.","linkurl":""}

Dr. Ushiba, the leader of the BMI project, first became absorbed in the computer as an elementary school student and was captivated by wonders of the brain during his junior high school days. (Please see pages 4~5 for an interview with Dr. Ushiba!) He has been engaged in studies on information engineering and electrical engineering with the Faculty of Science and Technology at the Yagami Campus in Yokohama City ever since he joined Professor Tomita’s laboratory to complete his graduation research paper as an undergraduate. Then he took up and pursued studies in neurophysiology at the School of Medicine in Shinanomachi, Shinjuku, Tokyo and with the Tsukigase Rehabilitation Center in Izu City, Shizuoka. He says, “Both studies in the brain and computer have been the natural course of events for me. So I have long felt that my academic position should be in how I can fuse these two fields into one.”
And it was in 2006 that Dr. Ushiba began to address research into the BMI, the system that directly links the brain to the computer. To begin with, he examined what brain waves would be generated from the somatic sensorymotor area of the cerebrum (the area presiding over senses and motion) when an able-bodied person does exercises or imagines doing exercises. The somatic sensory-motor area has specific places responsible for controlling the motion or sensation of arms, legs, shoulders or the torso, respectively. Dr. Ushiba mentioned, “Similar brain waves are generated from the same place of the motor area either when you are actually moving your legs or when just imaging so.”
Thus he also developed a method to accumulate data on interrelation between the types of motions and brain wave patterns and process such data in real time. His next challenge was the de velopment of a system designed to move an avatar with brain waves as introduced at the beginning of this article. Successfully developed within only six months, the purpose of the system was to use the BMI as an effective communication tool for those patients who cannot move their bodies due to damage to the spinal cord or ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). “For nearly ten years, I’ve conducted neurophysiological experiments jointly with doctors at the School of Medicine to identify differences in kinesthesia between able-bodied persons and disabled persons. These efforts seem to be the key to the smooth progress of our development.”

{"image":"16051","alt":"","description":"In the case of patients suffering from damage to the spinal cord, etc., their nerve conduction route that transmits brain’s motion instructions (will) to the pertinent muscle (movement) is severed. Here BMI serves as a bypass, linking the will to movement.
\nWith stroke patients, brain’s motion instructions cannot be properly transmitted to the muscle, disabling the movement. This also makes it impossible for feedback of sensation to be generated (a).
\nHowever, feedback can be generated if BMI is used since it enables the arm to move in response to motion instructions. It is presumed that the maintenance of the route from the brain to the muscle and vice versa stimulates rehabilitation (b). ","linkurl":""}

What was the motive that got you interested in computers?

When I was an elementary school fifth grader, my school offered an extracurricular computer class. Several PC units were made available to applicants who were taught programming during after-school hours. At the invitation of a friend, I attended a session. This was the very first time for me to play with a computer. In those days very few Japanese households had a computer and my home was no exception. So my school was the only place where I could play with computers.
During summer vacation, a Keio University professor opened a computer class on the Faculty of Science and Technology campus, which I also attended. I was amazed at several graduate students each writing a computer program there, which greatly impressed and motivated me. Since that time, I have been totally fascinated by the computer world. Popular pastimes that excited elementary school kids of those days were manga and TV cartoons, but my parents didn’t allow me to watch them. Perhaps that’s why my interest was directed to computers.
In those days, artificial intelligence (AI) was in fashion. One day, a postgraduate student visited our elementary school, bringing with him his program for an automated conversation system. It was something like a “Riddle” game. If you gave it hints one by one, the system finally responded with a correct answer. When it gave us a wrong answer, we taught it a correct answer, then it would learn and provide the correct answer from the next time. May perception at that time was that the computer could work only as instructed. This was my immovable perception of computers then. So the fact that humans can create artificial intelligence was totally new to me. I was taken aback.
When I was a junior high school student, Dr. Katsuhiko Mikoshiba (now with RIKEN), one of our alumni, visited our school and gave a lecture about the brain – another first experience for me. He talked about brain enthusiastically and the content of this speech was also very attractive. Later on, I applied to attend a lecture featuring Dr. Gen Matsumoto (then with the Electrotechnical Laboratory), a celebrated brain scientist. Indeed, I was under the strong stimulus of these two scientists. For me, their impressions are still strong and vivid.
At my junior high school’s annual presentation of free studies that are done during summer vacation, I unveiled a computer program I had developed on my own. I created a program simulating an urban redevelopment after the Gulf War, as a first grader; a study on morphing using an initial-stage hand scanner, as a second grader; and, as a third grader, a ray tracing program designed to estimate how a polygonal cone throws its shadow according to the position of a light source.
On Saturday every week, I visited a postgraduate at his residence to have him teach me the required algorithm. It was a private lesson. I really liked computing.

I did not stand out. I was neither good at sports nor a focus of attention among my classmates. Although I kept company with any type of my classmates, I always did things alone both a school and at home when it came to my favorite pursuits. I think I’ve done what I wanted to at an unrestricted pace. I’ve never felt a sense of alienation at all.

Although I entered a high school with a reputation for computer education, I joined the brass music club where I played trumpet, and even formed a band of our own. The reason is that the computer world in those days saw the debut of Windows with a complex and hard-to-operate system, which spoiled my interest to some extent.
Meanwhile, I continued to cherish a strong interest in the brain. Pedantically I liked visiting libraries and bookshops to hunt up difficult-looking books. I sharply reacted to terms such as “artificial intelligence” and “artificial life.” I received strong impetus when I knew that a postgraduate student at the university campus adjacent to our high school was translating a recently published book on artificial life, saying to myself “Wow, such an amazing student is so close to me!” Artificial intelligence and artificial life can create functions intrinsically peculiar to the brain or life whereas the computer can do only what it is instructed to. The fact that it can give rise to phenomena that was not designed was nothing less than a wonder. Why and how on earth is it possible? These questions intrigued me very much.
As the university entrance exam season approached, I hesitated as to whether I should choose the medical course or science and technology course. Finally I made up my mind to choose the latter because professors specializing in biosignaling were there and I also liked computers. At that time Keio’s Faculty of Science and Technology just added a new department known as the Department of Applied Physics and Physico-Informatics, which I chose and entered. This is because the department had a close relationship with the School of Medicine and there were professors specializing in neurology and the muscular system.
Though admitted to this department, I was weak in mathematics. In fact, my math performance as a junior high student was “C”. It was only in the junior year that I became really motivated to study hard. Instead of learning the basics merely as the basics, I came to understand that the basics are necessary because there are such-and-such fields of application, or “exits” you might say. This is how I became self-motivated for learning. I’m of a type who begins to learn the basics required only after I can identify how a particular field of study can be useful for society.
I joined Professor Yutaka Tomita’s laboratory mainly because Professor Tomita was engaged in research into rehabilitation and maintained a good contact with the School of Medicine. Immediately after joining the laboratory, I was lucky enough to be introduced to a Medical School professor and launch a joint research project.

I’ve had familiarity with campus life partly because I was raised in a scholastic family and partly because I visited university campuses from time to time since my elementary school days.
Through such experiences, I found that universities are a wonderful world where everyone is doing creative work and both the young and the experienced are getting along with each other in friendly and liberal manners. This impression remained unchanged even after I became a university student myself. I was so attracted by the university that I found it as a place of my calling. Actually I didn’t stop even for a moment to look around for opportunities of employment with prosperous businesses.
I like Keio’s unrestricted climate. I also like Keio because it maintains a campus-wide collaboration and network that allows, for example, university instructors to visit its elementary school and junior high students to visit the university for learning. Even alumni visit the campus to give lectures. When I decided to work for the university, I found Keio much more attractive compared with businesses.
As a junior high student, I was given a stimulus by Dr. Mikoshiba. Following suit, I myself sometimes visit the junior high school to talk about my specialty – research on BMI. This year is the fourth year since I began this initiative. Only recently I visited Keio’s girls’ high school. It would be good if I could repay to young students some of what I was given as a youngster.