What seemed inconceivable literally ten years ago does not cause genuine amazement among people today. This is the planned development of modern science. And indeed, no one can be surprised by all sorts of neural interfaces, when a person is able to control various mechanisms or programs with just the power of thought. The University of Florida even held a competition among its students who are fond of piloting drones, the main condition of which was that the participants would be able to control the quadcopters only with their own thoughts.
The race is called The Brain Drone Race. And from the outside it looks like a real battle of minds: two people sit motionless at the tables and gaze at the monitor with all their might, trying to concentrate and recreate the correct pattern in their head that will move the drone in the right direction. Brain activity was measured using external sensors attached to the heads of the competition participants. The goal of each pilot was to get their drone to the finish line before their opponent did. The main prizes of the race were Beats Studio wireless headphones, a GoPro Hero4 camera and an Apple Watch.
Of course, such a race looks like something extremely leisurely when compared to a race where pilots compete manually controlling their drones. But the point here, as you perfectly understand, is not at all about speed. Researchers at the University of Florida are working to improve the neurointerface in order to allow paralyzed people to live full lives in the future using high-precision prostheses and other mechanisms controlled exclusively by their minds.