First action, then thinking

Change your behavior and your thinking will follow. For example, if you want to become more pleasant to talk to, you don't have to convince yourself that you are. Just start holding doors and helping friends in difficult times - and you will become a pleasant person to talk to. If you want to become more responsive, sign up for a volunteer organization. If you want to become generous, make a donation and let your brain believe that you are truly a generous person.

Dive into your fears

Science confirms that being in contact with what causes fear, at least in a lighter version, is beneficial. By facing your fears, you will see yourself as a different person—one who is able to overcome your phobias. Think about how you can do this in a safe area - and do it.

Change your body movements and facial expressions

Research has proven that people rely on their movements and facial expressions to assess what is happening. For example, if we sit through the entire meeting with a smile, then it seems to us that it went positively, and if we frown, it seems that everything was disgusting. If we nod, we tend to agree with others; if we shake our heads, we disagree, no matter what they say. If you want to reconfigure your brain, change your facial expressions and movements.

Don't have your head in the clouds

The researchers asked people to put together a puzzle and then asked how they liked the activity. It turned out that the pleasure of doing something depended on thoughts. If the subjects often thought about something positive and abstract during the process, they did not really like the activity. They remembered that they were in the clouds, and concluded that since they could not concentrate, the experience was not very pleasant. If a person is able to concentrate on work, it will give him more pleasure than when he has his head in the clouds.

Call yourself who you want to be

It is important for us to define our identity and follow it. Scientists conducted an experiment: they gave people the opportunity to take other people’s money and accompanied the permission with two different phrases: “Please don’t cheat” or “Please don’t be a cheat.” In the first case, people often took money, but in the second - when the message was linked to identity - they did not do so at all. To convince yourself (or others) to do something, assume an identity.

Play the role until you get used to it

If you want to get rid of procrastination, organize a self-development group or start a podcast about the dangers of procrastination. It's hard to teach people not to procrastinate if you do it yourself, so taking this step will help you overcome a bad habit. The same applies to other habits: just start pretending that you have already overcome it.

Do you want to feel supported and connected to other people? Do something typical of social people, such as sharing something personal with friends, community members (online or offline), or even strangers. This action makes you feel more connected to others and to the world in general. People who openly share something personal and respond to others come to the conclusion that a connection exists, otherwise they would not do so.

Get agreement

If a person voluntarily makes a decision - for example, choosing a certain job or the end date of some task - the likelihood that he will consistently move towards the result is higher. But how do you get a person to admit that he wants something? One way is to offer a small number of options and ask them to choose something. If a decision is made independently, most likely the person will stick to it.

Use magnets

Similar cases can be combined into pairs. If you force yourself to do something easy, you are more likely to do something that is more difficult. For example, when a person cannot motivate himself to go for a run every day, he can combine it with another daily activity - putting on shoes. You wear shoes every day and you don't need much effort to replace your regular shoes with sneakers. And since sneakers are automatically associated with running, it will be easier to go for a run. This is called magnetic behavior because performing one action (putting on running shoes) is like a magnet pulling another action (running).

Create a chain

The more days we do something, the stronger the chain becomes. Neurotricks will work more successfully if you use them at least several times. After, say, five sessions at the gym, the mind begins to believe that it gives us pleasure, otherwise why go there. In this way, new habits and a new personality type are formed.

Do you want to radically change your type of thinking and behavior pattern? Of course this can be achieved! Our brain continuously creates new neural connections and reorganizes itself, and only you yourself give it a functioning program. If you develop self-awareness and pay attention to this process, you can get rid of negative thoughts and bad habits and begin the path to finding a better, more positive self.

Steps

Part 1

Start tracking your thoughts throughout the day. In the process of evolution, the human brain has developed in such a way that two subpersonalities can be distinguished in the personality structure: the primitive “I”, which is responsible for actions, and the higher “I”, which is capable of comprehending its actions. A person has the ability to observe himself and his thoughts around the clock. If a thought makes you wary, stop for a second and think about it. Was it a negative thought? Destructive? What caused her appearance? Does it seem logical? Does it relate to psychological addiction? If you engage in regular self-reflection, you will learn to monitor your own thought patterns, otherwise known as patterns.

• Write down thoughts as they arise. This will make it easier for you to track your thought pattern. Thoughts can be self-deprecating, anxious, pessimistic, or anything else. Additionally, writing down your thoughts will help you identify and get rid of that nagging inner voice in your head.

1. Identify your thinking patterns. After a week, you will need to re-read your notes and analyze them carefully. You may find that your thoughts are mostly negative, that you are overly critical of yourself or others, or that you tend to ruminate at length that is completely unimportant and unhelpful. Each person will discover something different. Once you identify your thought pattern, you can begin to eliminate it.

   • When you gain self-understanding, it will give you the ability to literally stop yourself. You you will do that, and then change for the better can begin. After all, it's impossible to get where you need to go if you don't know where you're going.

2. You need to understand that everything in your life is interconnected. The problem with many of us is that we think our feelings force us to act a certain way. People believe that they are completely powerless and cannot change this, and as a result they are simply doomed to experience certain feelings and perform certain actions. In fact, this is not entirely true.

   Be careful about the words you use in your thoughts and what you say to people around you. Your words can hurt people - and you too - and this can only bring harm to both your personality and your thoughts and behavior. When you catch yourself thinking this way, tell yourself to stop immediately. Just stop. Shift your attention to something positive that will help you stay on track.

   • If you radiate optimism and love, that is what you will receive in return. This is beneficial for everyone and creates the right energy in the space. If you think that your plan is impossible, then it will definitely not come true. If you look at the situation rationally and believe that capable accomplish your plan, then give yourself a chance to achieve what you want.
   • Sometimes we find ourselves repeating the same things over and over again in our heads. This may sound like: “What a freak I am!”, or “I’m of no use,” or “I’m depressed.” There are many variations of such useless thoughts. Press pause, stop this recording and create a new one. What's running through your head now? Isn't she like a breath of fresh air? Always pay attention to such thoughts and evaluate whether they are setting you back on your path to self-improvement. And remember - you can always get rid of them.

3. Choose to be reactive. From childhood we are taught how to think correctly, how to behave, and are instilled with a certain value system. This often determines what type of personality a person develops. Certain fears and self-doubts formed in childhood can remain with us into adulthood. Very often we become fixated on certain patterns that determine our reactions to a particular stimulus. Thus, we do not realize that we could have thought about the situation and perhaps responded to it differently. If you notice a negative reaction in yourself, take the opportunity to evaluate it. What and why caused your rage? How would your friends behave in the same situation? Could they have reacted differently? Could there have been a better response?

   • Ask yourself why you react the way you do. What do you get as a result? Could you have responded differently? You should choose your own thought patterns that correspond to your true essence, the image of yourself that you want to live up to, and work hard to develop them.

4. Develop a new way of thinking to create these new, positive habits. You identify your negative thoughts, stop, and then replace them with positive thoughts. Now you need to persist with this new way of thinking as often as possible. This will come in you have become a habit, instead of your previous habit of constantly thinking negatively. If you carefully monitor your thoughts and believe that everything will work out for you, then sooner or later you will achieve success. This is exactly how the brain works.

   • You may find that journaling, meditation, or talking about it with a loved one helps you develop a positive mindset. Then your process of change takes on more concrete and formalized features and becomes part of your life. You stop seeing it as a crazy fad that you think about periodically. You'll likely find that others are impressed by your persistence and want to emulate your example and improve themselves.

   Part 2

   Changing habits

   1. You feel the urge to follow a bad habit and resist this craving. Sometimes we need to change not only our thoughts, but also bad habits and addictions (which are often the same thing). Do you have a bad habit that you want to get rid of? Maybe you tend to overeat or use drugs? Begin recovery from this addiction by exposing yourself to the trigger while refraining from the unwanted behavior. At first it will be very difficult, but each time abstinence will become easier and easier for you. Thus, you begin to control your bad habit. This control will make you feel much better.

      • Let's look at how to resist a habit using overeating as an example. For example, you are at home and there comes a time when you usually snack on something. Look at a picture of delicious food or pick up a dish and smell the aroma, but don't immediately dive into the food. Try to hold on for a while - 30 seconds or 5 minutes - as long as you can hold back.
      • In this situation, it is very important that the action takes place in a familiar environment. Many addicted people try to get rid of addiction in rehabilitation centers and they succeed. But as soon as they find themselves at home, in the conditions of normal life, they again relapse and return to addictive behavior. To effectively fight a bad habit, it is necessary to create conditions that are closest to your normal life.

   2. Learn to resist triggers in different conditions. If you suffer from alcohol addiction, it's worth a try abstain from consumption in various settings and situations. Start with the first step. When you get home from work, skip your usual glass of wine in the evening. Over time, the desire to drink will wane. Then you can go to the nearest bar and refrain from drinking alcohol in that environment. Soon you will learn how to do this. The next step is parties. You need to face the trigger in a variety of settings, wherever it may lie in wait for you, and learn to overcome yourself.

   3. Make your new habit automatic, while remembering to refrain from addictive behavior. When you reach this stage, you will be almost free from addiction. The time has come to specifically imitate addictive behavior, while In fact don't do this. A person with an alcohol addiction will be able to go to a bar, order himself a glass of alcohol, but not drink. A person with a food addiction can cook delicious food for the whole family and watch their loved ones enjoy a delicious meal. If you have reached this stage, then you are in complete control of your mind and your addiction. Congratulations!

      • When you begin to abstain from addictive behavior automatically, it is much more beneficial than thinking about or looking at the object of your addiction. In this case, interaction moves to a qualitatively new level and requires remarkable willpower. However, this stage is quite achievable.

   4. Develop an alternative positive response. You can't just remove a bad habit without replacing it with anything. First of all, your brain needs some kind of encouragement. In the end, you fully deserve the reward for having done such intense work on yourself. So, when you're sitting at the bar and not touching alcohol, order yourself your favorite non-alcoholic drink. On a diet? It is quite possible to please yourself with a cup of aromatic tea. Stuck in traffic but not freaking out? Turn on your favorite music and sing along. Any reward that makes you feel good (but not addictive) will work for you.

      • This applies to thoughts too. Let's imagine a situation where your boss yelled at you. Your natural reaction to the situation is to lose your cool and cry or get very angry. Instead, do something that brings you joy. Take a walk, call a friend, or start reading your favorite book. Eventually, feeling angry will no longer be your natural response to an unpleasant stimulus. Your brain will simply stop recognizing it because you have made this reaction disappear. Now you have a new, positive reaction as an answer. Victory!

   5. Meditate. While you may not think this advice applies to you, keep in mind that meditation can be incredibly beneficial. Meditation practices can increase mindfulness and self-awareness. Moreover, meditation helps a person stay calm and focused, making it more achievable to have a positive mindset. When your brain is set on the right course, you can easily jettison old habits.

      • Don't like meditation? Fine. What helps you calm down and focus? Reading a good book? Video games? Cooking? Then get on with it. Any activity that helps you find a sense of inner harmony is useful.

      Part 3

      Benefit from Brain Reprogramming

      1. You need to realize that negative thinking is completely useless. When you think: “It’s time to go on a diet” is one thing, but realizing that your current food preferences do not meet the principle of healthy eating is completely different. A person who just “wants to diet” is not really going to change anything. If a person sincerely believes that his current eating habits are not conducive to health, most likely he will achieve success in changing this circumstance. To effectively rewire your brain, you must truly believe that negative thoughts and bad habits are not doing you any good. When you believe this yourself, you will be able to act much more effectively.

         • Chances are, you know that negative thoughts lead to wrong actions and negative behavior patterns. They obscure all the good things in your life, and the person constantly feels unhappy. It is clear that they do not bring you any benefit. Where will they take you? Where will they lead us all?

      2. Imagine your brain as a computer. Your brain has flexibility and enormous plasticity. This is true. This quality of the brain is called neuroplasticity, and it determines the brain’s ability to change under the influence of new thoughts and new life experiences. In short, the human brain is like a computer. He adapts. He receives information and uses it. You believe in the capabilities of your computer, and in the same way you should believe in the capabilities of your own brain.

         • There's another reason to think of your brain as a computer. This will help you realize that at any given time there is the possibility of many completely different results. Certain information enters your brain (like a computer), your brain processes it (like a computer) and produces a solution (like a computer). However, if you change the way you process information, the way you present information, or even content entered information, you get completely different results. A computer works exactly the same way. Try to go beyond traditional ideas, and maybe you will realize that the operating system needs to be replaced. The new operating system will work much more efficiently than the one you used before!

      3. Convince yourself that you don't even doubt the possibility of change. This goes hand in hand with the belief that negative thoughts are useless. To begin to change and rewire your brain, you need the right mindset. Obviously, there is a huge difference between thinking, “I want to lose weight,” and believing, “I believe I can lose weight.” Overall, you have to believe in yourself. You capable change. And you will definitely succeed!

         • Your self-belief will help a lot if you want to start building a positive mindset. When you believe in the possibility of change, you see more opportunities in front of you to achieve what you want. Believing in yourself ignites a bright light that illuminates your life with a golden glow. Faith instantly makes everything around you brighter. Life is getting better. You begin to believe that everything will work out for you, and everything works out for you!

      4. Question every thought that comes into your head. As you progress in rewiring your brain, begin to think about and question your own thoughts. What is this thought - a fact or a belief? Is this your own idea or borrowed from someone? If you discover that a given thought is borrowed or simply a belief, question it. Is this a good idea? Is it possible to make it even better? Even more positive? Is there any way to think differently about this topic so that your thoughts are more consistent with the type of thinking you strive for?

         • Our cultural environment promotes a certain type of human upbringing. We are taught to think, learn, act and, in general, behave within certain, socially acceptable limits. It's up to you whether you can take advantage of all the capabilities of your highly developed brain and make it work. What In fact better for you? What exactly corresponds to your value system?

      5. Download the mobile app to develop positive thinking. Now you can find mobile applications for any purpose, including the development of positive thinking and brain reprogramming. You can download apps in English like Stress-Free Life or I Can Do It, or find any other app that will help your brain stay in the game and perform at its best. If you are not attracted to the idea of ​​keeping a personal diary, this mobile application may be useful for you.

         • We all need little tricks to get us through this journey to our best selves. This could be a mobile application, a book with tips on finding yourself, labels stuck on the refrigerator or a personal diary. Everyone has their own way to help them stay on the right path. If you really want to succeed in rewiring your brain, it's a good idea to give yourself some kind of tangible, tangible reminder to keep you moving forward on your chosen path.
      • Make a gratitude list. In moments of despondency, remember this list. Isn't it wonderful to have all these wonderful things in your life?

      Warnings

      • The change process may take weeks, months or even years. But if you are determined to succeed, you will succeed.

It's every hacker's dream to come out of the shadows and hack into reality. You will be surprised, but such hackers exist, and they have been practicing for a very long time. Their goal is to reach the brain on a subconscious level and introduce malicious code.

The brain is an instrument with which a person processes streams of information received from the senses. Visually, the human brain is not at all like a computer. The brain is an organ that developed in humans in the process of natural evolution, and a computer is a machine created by man, but still there are similarities between the brain and the computer. If you do not look at the outer shell, but compare them from the point of view of receiving and processing information, then you can say that man created a computer in the image and likeness of his brain, borrowing only basic technical solutions from nature.
A computer can be hacked, but is it possible to hack the brain by forcing a person to execute virus code? It turns out it is possible! And today I will try to prove this to you.

Let's try to figure out what's wrong with the brain...

For clarity, let's draw an analogy between the brain and a computer:
a person has long-term memory and a computer has permanent memory - hard drives;
a person has short-term and operative memory, and a computer has temporary memory - it is also called operative memory;
a computer has input and output devices that it uses to exchange information with the outside world, and a person has similar organs - eyes, ears, speech apparatus
the computer has software and our brain also has an analogue of software that works on a subconscious level.
It can be assumed that the brain is the most powerful computer created by nature.

Information flows and channels with the outside world

A person receives information from the environment through the channels of communication with the outside world available to him: the visual channel is our eyes, the auditory channel is our ears and the tactile channel is touch. There are actually more such channels, but three main channels are listed. After receiving input information, the brain processes the received data streams, then, at a subconscious or conscious level, makes a decision based on the processed information. If the brain determines that the information received will be used in the future, then it stores this data in long-term memory. The brain does not store unnecessary information and gets rid of it very quickly, from 40 seconds to several days. This is how the brain works to receive and process information.
A computer works similarly to the human brain. With the help of input devices, the machine receives information through the communication channels available to it: video information from the camera, audio information from the microphone and other input devices. Computer networks are a universal channel for input and output of information. After receiving information, depending on the purpose and type, the computer processes it using software, the result of the work can be recorded in the permanent memory of the machine, remain in RAM for further processing, or can be sent to information output devices.
Agree, the methods of receiving, processing and storing information in a machine and the human brain are very similar. Man and machine receive information flows through communication channels with the outside world.

What will happen to the computer if a malicious program is inserted through the communication channel along with the necessary information? There will be an attack on the information system and the computer will be infected. In the future, depending on the goals of the malware, it can take full control of the computer and force it to perform the actions that the attacker wants. Naturally, a malicious program is software written by an attacker in a programming language.

Subconscious Programming

Exactly the same scheme applies to the human brain. Along with useful information, through communication channels with the outside world, the brain can receive instructions to perform any actions on a subconscious level. In other words, the brain receives a pre-verified logical algorithm and a command to execute. Any of you can study this topic on your own in the future, but I will describe it in a nutshell. In psychology there is such a thing as NLP - neurolinguistic programming - this is a set of techniques and methods that allow you to control a person on a subconscious level. Essentially, this is hypnosis and manipulation of human brain programs that work on a subconscious level using pre-existing logical algorithms and patterns. It is not for nothing that the NLP acronym contains the word programming, since this is precisely the programming of the human brain. The victim is introduced to a program created on logical chains, conditions and actions, she is completely controlled, but at the same time she has no idea what is happening and accepts the attacker’s wishes as her own.

NLP is a mixture of hypnosis and linguistic programming using keywords. In order to introduce a harmful attitude to a person, he is put into a trance state; in this state, information, bypassing consciousness, is immediately perceived at a subconscious level. In this case, the victim is not aware of the hypnotist’s words; for her it is background noise, but the brain perceives all commands and settings. Thus, the virus program is downloaded to a subconscious level and can be activated at any time, at the command of the attacker or when certain conditions occur, for example, if the victim hears a code word.

Protective equipment

In order to infect a computer with malware, it is necessary to disable protection measures; the human brain also has a universal means of protection - this is our consciousness. Consciousness protects our subconscious. While consciousness perceives information, we are able to filter out everything unnecessary and make decisions on our own. You will not follow the requests and orders of strangers. In order to introduce a viral program into the subconscious, it is necessary to turn off consciousness or introduce it bypassing consciousness. It sounds stupid and funny, but this is exactly what experienced hypnotists do, they will simply turn off the victim’s consciousness. This is a real brain hacking, in a very tough but productive way.

DOS attack

Everyone has heard the phrase DOS attack. This is an attack on a computer system with the goal of bringing its performance to failure. In other words, attackers load the computer's resources so much that the machine is unable to process such a large amount of information and begins to slow down until it freezes completely. On the Internet, such attacks are usually carried out on websites with the aim of disabling the resource. Tens of thousands of computers simultaneously send requests to one site, the server cannot withstand the load, freezes and the site becomes unavailable. This happens because the machine's resources are limited; it can only perform a certain number of logical operations per second. If the maximum number of operations is exceeded, the computer cannot cope with the load and freezes.
The brain works in exactly the same way, it is also limited to a certain number of operations per second, and if this number is exceeded, then consciousness turns off, the person freezes or goes into a trance. At this moment, while consciousness is turned off, the attacker can work directly with the victim’s subconscious, introducing malicious settings and commands.

DOS attack on the brain or gypsy hypnosis

But how is it even possible to load a person’s brain so much that it freezes? As it turns out, there is nothing complicated here.
We perceive information through communication channels with the outside world; if these channels are overloaded with information, the brain may freeze. This is exactly how gypsy hypnosis works. As a rule, the victim, after being treated with such hypnosis, does not remember what happened to her, since she was given the “forget everything” setting. The first thing that happens to the victim after establishing contact is an attempt to lure him with something. Then a conversation begins, with several people trying to prove something to the victim at once, thus clogging the auditory channel. There is constant movement before your eyes, they are gesticulating, waving their arms, walking around, colorful clothes flashing before their eyes, thus clogging the visual channel. The next stage is final, they begin to touch the victim with their hands, clogging the tactile channel. As a result of such manipulations, the brain cannot withstand the load and the person’s consciousness turns off, the person enters a trance, leaving the subconscious mind defenseless. At this moment, you can give the person any command or download a pre-developed command algorithm.

Instant hacking of the subconscious

In fact, gypsy hypnosis is quite difficult to apply, since it requires a group of trained people. There is a much simpler way - an experienced hypnotist can put the victim into a trance state in just a second. The goal of the hypnotist is to turn off consciousness; to do this, you can physically influence the brain. A strong finger click on the victim’s forehead leads to a micro-concussion, at which point consciousness turns off and the hypnotist gives the victim a command.
Thus, it is possible to hack the brain of any person and download a malicious program. Of course, this does not work with everyone; there are people who are not subject to hypnosis, but they are few.

Were you hacked too?

Reprogram the brain

The brain is the only organ that has named itself.

Think about it for a moment and you'll find yourself falling down the rabbit hole of an existential crisis. We apologize for pushing you there.

For centuries, scientists, philosophers and ordinary people have been literally fascinated by the unimaginably complex organ that lies between our ears. Countless volumes have been written to explain and discuss consciousness, how memories are formed, control of our bodies, and other issues.

Today, with access to ever-improving technology, we learn new things every day, allowing us to experiment and reward ourselves with more knowledge than ever before. One of the organizations that is moving forward in this movement is the young Russian company Intelligence and Innovation, which has created a system with the unusual name Rehabunculus. Here they are working on the use of neural networks and virtual reality in sports training and rehabilitation procedures, and are also preparing to develop complexes for training astronauts. Not bad for a team that barely numbers 16 people...

Mind and body

I am surrounded by four brick walls without windows or doors, in my hands is a futuristic-looking pistol, and in front is a target with a silhouette of a man. I raise my weapon and try to aim at the middle of the head. But I’m a terrible shooter, my hand trembles, and five or six shots land on the very edge of the target. I take off my virtual reality helmet and return it to Alexander Kashcheev, technical director of Intelligence and Innovation.

“When you shoot in the real world, you have tracking movements,” explains Alexander, “you see the target, the front sight and the point at which you are aiming on the target. Our system waits for the moment when you are about to make a mistake - the neural network predicts the trajectory of your movement. Thanks to virtual reality, we can show this error a few frames earlier and amplify it even more. For you, it will look like your hand is not raised all the way or is shaking more. By receiving feedback earlier and in a stronger form, your brain responds more quickly to that input and begins to adjust its motor program.”

This happens unconsciously: for the brain, visual perception is about 70% of incoming information, and it is always decisive. Immersed in the virtual world, a person does not feel the delta between reality and the picture. It seems to him that the hands are where he sees them. A specially created algorithm adjusts this delta to correct movements.

Can a neural network teach a person to hit a target better? A study conducted by Intelligence and Innovation says yes, it can. Sixty people took part in it, and the thirty who trained under the guidance of artificial intelligence improved their performance by an average of 50%.

The neural network helps restore neurons

There can be a huge number of applications for such an invention, because, in fact, the system created in “Intelligence and Innovation” is capable of “reprogramming the brain” of a person and teaching him any motor skill. One of the areas where artificial intelligence can act as a personal trainer is medicine. More precisely, the rehabilitation of patients who have suffered a stroke.

To explain the essence of the task, Olga Popova joined the conversation, who combines her work at Intelligence and Innovation with the position of a researcher in the brain research department of the Neuroscience Research Center.

“A stroke is an acute disorder of cerebral circulation. When a brain hemorrhage occurs, a certain number of neurons die. Around this zone there is a zone of neurons that go into a state of stress; they are not permanently damaged. Often these are the motor areas of the cortex, that is, those through which we control our movements. If you start rehabilitation in time, you can restore their function. Moreover, surviving neurons can take on the task of dead ones - this is called “neuroplasticity”. As part of rehabilitation, it is possible to completely restore mobility in the limbs, including fine motor skills,” says Olga.

One of the goals of the program is to encourage proper exercise performance. Since not all muscles work in the same way in patients, it often happens that a person begins to perform movements incorrectly, and then the skill is fixed, and it is almost impossible to correct it.

The traditional method of rehabilitation is physical therapy under the guidance of a trainer, or training on robotic mechanisms, the so-called lokomats. According to a given program, they help a person move his arms or legs. The Rehabunculus system, developed by Intellect and Innovation, will cost much less than such a robot. All you need is a TV, a laptop and a second-generation Microsoft Kinect gesture controller.

Rehabunculus is in many ways reminiscent of a game for Xbox and Kinect: after preliminary calibration and setup, the patient performs simple exercises like hitting balls flying in his direction with a racket. But this is not just a game: artificial intelligence analyzes movements and pushes the patient to gradually expand their range. Egor Tokunov, the project manager and responsible for business development, tells us more about how it works.

“Stroke patients have this problem - when they don’t see the results of exercise, motivation drops. So we use our motion prediction system, but in a different direction: it doesn't make the error worse, but shows the person undergoing rehabilitation that they are doing better than they actually are. He sees the results and it motivates him to continue training.”

“Now we are trying different methods - both improving and worsening this perception. Probably, in the final version it will be a hybrid approach, when we will first show the patient some kind of idealized picture in order to involve him in the rehabilitation process, then we will go through the perigee with a zero delta, and then we will move on to a system with complication, that is, we will begin to aggravate mistake, forcing the patient to work harder and restore damaged connections.”

Rehabunculus is currently being tested at the Scientific Center for Neurology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. A group of patients and rehabilitation doctors is already working with the system.

The transition from testing to mass application will occur with the participation of another Microsoft technology - the Azure cloud platform.

The Power of the Cloud

“The neural network for predicting movements will be calculated in the Azure cloud. Based on the analysis of the patient’s “handwriting,” we obtain a downloadable neural network module, which then makes predictions in real time on the local computer. This need arises due to the fact that the human movement control system is very multi-level: in essence, we are making a neural network that duplicates the hierarchy of movement control of the person with whom it works.

“Generating the output network requires enormous resources, hence the need for cloud computing. Azure's power will save us time and allow patients to begin recovery procedures within ten minutes after completing test sessions. Plus for us this is some protection, since it will allow us not to give all our algorithms to the end client. The core of the system will remain with us.”

Spacewalk

According to Egor Tokunov, in the future Rehabunculus will be able to be used much more widely - in a wide variety of post-traumatic and post-operative rehabilitation programs. But now people are interested in the system in a completely different field - space.

When RSC Energia saw a story on TV about the company’s work with athletes, they became interested and asked us to think about how this could be applied in terms of training cosmonauts. From that moment, cooperation began, which then grew into a joint trip to NASA and the signing of a protocol of intent - that we would potentially promote our development at NASA.

We are talking about a system that will help recreate conditions close to those that astronauts find themselves in when going into outer space in a spacesuit.

“There are a lot of features there. A person’s movements are limited due to the fact that the suit is inflated from the inside: the difference in pressure outside the suit and inside is 0.4 atmospheres and the kinematics are very specific. This is especially true for fine motor skills and the movement of a hand in a glove.”

Now such training is simulated in swimming pools or using a flying zero-gravity laboratory. If you use the developments of “Intelligence and Innovation”, then these funds will not be needed. Instead, it is planned to use the Selenium stand, which simulates weightlessness on a gimbal system, and a virtual reality helmet.

“The first stage of research that we are currently conducting is the development of a kinematics algorithm taking into account the peculiarities of movement in a spacesuit. We will put this data into our platform, and also find out what routine and non-routine operations need to be performed. Then we will be able to build the process of training astronauts here on Earth.”

Federation docking

“Currently a new apparatus, the Federation, is being built in Russia. It will have a completely new manual docking system, and we are discussing the possibility of using our development for training in how to use it. Essentially, this is something like augmented reality: there is no need for complete immersion in the virtual world, but there will be real controls, real displays, real docking systems - with physics that will be calculated based on data from the ship's engines. The information is displayed on the monitor, where a person will see the movement of the spacecraft.”

Business and plans

"Intelligence and Innovation" exists not only through investments - both private and provided by funds - but also through sales of its solutions. The plan of the company's managers is to make money by selling the system to clients, but in the case of medicine this is not easy.

“In Russia, we cannot yet sell Rehabunculus to medical hospitals, since we do not have a medical registration certificate,” explains Egor Tokunov. - The process of obtaining it is long and opaque. Now we can only sell to the end user, the patient - as physical therapy, through exercise therapy instructors.”

“We already have positive feedback from the Neuroscience Research Center. Currently, the system has been installed for testing in several rehabilitation centers; there are installations for private clients for home physical therapy. We are also deploying this system for testing at the First Moscow State Medical University named after. Sechenov, where she will be tested for six months. In general, we are preparing the market for the release of this product.”

"Intelligence and Innovation" was selected from two hundred companies from all over the world into the Finnish accelerator Vertical.vc and in September begins to promote its products in Europe. The company is also thinking about entering the US market. “There are a lot of clients there, and now there is already potential interest in our system,” says Egor Tokunov. - It’s easier there, since our system is easily integrated into other telemedicine complexes. This will allow us to bring our technology to many more customers.”

In addition to sales of Rehabunculus and fulfillment of contracts for its implementation, Intelligence and Innovation has another source of income - trading in auxiliary solutions that were created during the development of its own systems. These include various types of mounts, batteries, wireless communication devices, and even high-performance computers designed specifically to be carried in a backpack and run on battery power.

“Virtual reality parks and quest organizers buy these things from us,” says Maxim Chizhov, responsible for marketing and sales. When asked about what other areas the achievements of “Intelligence and Innovation” could be useful in, Egor also asks Maxim to answer, recommending him as a specialist in the future.

“Our system is based on a core that can teach a person any motor skill, including in an enterprise or industry. Or, for example, in the military sphere: there our development can be used to train specialists in tactical and various specialized skills. There is a great demand for such solutions in this area.”

However, Yegor himself believes that training is still too unusual and an immature market: “This is a blue ocean that no one has yet mastered or engaged in training using technological methods and artificial intelligence.”

Whatever direction of development turns out to be the most promising, the company is confident that it will not miss: “If there are doubts, we always take it and check it,” says Egor Tokunov.

An optimistic note. If it doesn't make you forget about your existential crisis, then nothing will.