'Roboprof' turns sci-fi to reality

A cheer rang round the laboratory as the world's first cyborg clenched his left hand and activated an alarm - without leaving his desk.

Prof Kevin Warwick also drove a tiny Lego machine, switched on a light and controlled a mechanical hand, as if by the power of thought.

In fact, a microchip implanted in his arm last month was measuring nerve impulses, and these were translated by a computer to control the various gadgets.

It is the first time a machine has been controlled by a human nervous system, after almost 30 years' work by the 48-year-old scientist.

The tests were conducted in a University of Reading laboratory, dubbed the Madlab.

Prof Warwick was warned surgery

to install the chip could paralyse his hand. He said: 'I think there is a time for courage and for entering the unknown.'

The professor believes the technology could lead to brains being upgraded with implants for extra memory and intelligence.

He already intends to send pain signals to a computer - and have them sent back - and to experiment with jewellery that reacts to his moods.