This reminds me of an experiment where they put an implant in monkeys' brains that allowed them to control a robotic arm: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/science/29brain.html?_r=1 . That article doesn't mention it, but another article I read at the time (or maybe it was for a followup experiment?) pointed out that while at first the monkeys were moving their own arm in tandem with the robotic arm, eventually they l…
Very interesting. You wouldn't even need the thing you are manipulating to be attached to you. In the future you could go beyond Dr. Octopus, to pseudo-telekinesis, manipulating a mass of nanorobots.
The plot of Big Hero Six revolved around exactly that. :)