Hey you. Yeah, you, listen in close; we've seen the future here at CeBIT. If you thought that the idea of controlling your gaming rig with only your mind was just a bit too Tomorrowland, then you haven't laid eyes on the "brain-computer interface" developed by Austria's
Guger Tecnologies (g.tec). We're happy to report that in a game of thought-control vs. Engadget man-editor, we were totally pwned at Pong. 10-to-4 if you must know. Our competition sat smug in his stool
thinking about where he wanted his paddle to go, as we flailed about helpless with mouse and keyboard in a wake of alpha waves. At least we didn't have to smear gel on our scalp and wear a funny hat -- ha! The system works by cleverly measuring fluctuations in electrical voltage in the brain and then translating them into computer commands. The technology has already been commercialized into the size of an iPAQ Pocket PC for hospitals and research institutes. It costs about $5,000 with a 99 - 100% level of accuracy for "trained subjects." We had our hat handed to us by a person who just started using the system, yesterday. Hell, that's a shorter learning curve than Graffiti. Although the technology shows great promise in
controlling prosthetics and assisting
the disabled with communications, we found ourselves (and our new best scientist friends, Christoph Guger and Ingo Niedermayer) eagerly discussing its use as a Second Life controller and of course,
in robotics. Be sure to click the read link below for all the details; check the gallery for the gore.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
James @ Mar 16th 2007 2:36PM
I for one welcome our brain-wave commanded robot overlords...?
LukeA @ Mar 16th 2007 2:36PM
Your comments: How much tampering before it can work in reverse????///??/?????
Think electric motor/generator, speaker/microphone, and Piezo
transducer!!!!!1!111one!1!!1
[/kidding]
Xtremeskier @ Mar 16th 2007 2:44PM
No wonder you got pwned look at the size of his paddle compared to yours. It was an unfair match to begin with.
Fantastic technology either way. The medical uses for protestic limbs alone is mind boggling.
joanne basecki @ Apr 22nd 2007 1:38AM
We could actually take this one step further, into the image of next Christmas:
Text transformed into a graphic modality? Not partially and indirectly... but TOTALLY?
… Is it so transformed only to prepare us for the mind-to-mind communication???? This could well be a new chapter of information era.
Smart EMMA is focused on production as well as R&D of a “visual language” or, call it a “natural software”… It is a new invention, a hi-tech visual (& multi-modal) support for all natural languages and, in end effect, a mutual language of itself, a language for all, one without regard for user’s nationality, background or a specific disability, also a language unequally appropriate and flexible for a plethora of cognitive research. It is now available in a short version named Emma, as an addition to cell phones and video games. See details at http://vibepc.homestead.com/Emma_Lesson_1c.ppt and a sample at value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vO3jAnNYF3U">
However, this is actually the beginning of conversing mind-to-mind in full phrases and paragraphs rather than single words. It is a step toward a better understanding, expression, memory, objectivity… The devices introduced by researches such as those at Brown University, show that we are a step away from receiving a Christmas gift in a form of a toy, a helmet perhaps, made to allow a little boy move his cursor with a power of his thought alone and play a game with a distant friend… mind-to-mind… The games and communications in general will become increasingly interactive.
Since the brain processes aural and visual information in a very different area and manner, the visual constructs used now days for written language presentations, such as text, are not optimized for the visual cognitive processes. Emma communicator is optimized. Emma could be used when a cell phone is off, on a plane, via iPod or any computer device, it can be used with and without printed or audio translation during silent meetings, it could be used as a translating device in some cases, and as a video caller ID where you might allow only some friends interrupt silently and speedily (speed of light) your TV show and ask if they could talk later; it could be used in emergencies; for disabilities; national security; school kids will soon use it for fun and work.
PROPOSED PARTNERSHIPS:
1) With an interactive game/book publishers where segments could be presented via Emma to ease the young users into this new modality so appropriate for their new generation. And, perhaps later, with a cell phones manufacture.
2) With a manufacture of medical devices appropriate for various disabilities. Here an example would be the “visual glasses” for hearing impaired or visually challenged or those with various learning disabilities to name a few.
3) Government; transfer of classified information.
All inquiries please direct to tech.project@hotmail.com. Smart EMMA is a Registered Member at the Microsoft Partner Program.
JoshLowry @ Mar 16th 2007 2:53PM
I just finished watching the first Matrix movie, this can't be a good thing.
This is how the computers first developed AI. Hurry and darken the skies!
- Josh
Where's your head at? - http://www.StateOfBrain.com
Dean @ Mar 16th 2007 3:27PM
This looks like an amazing development for medical use (the disabled) however, all I see is the fall of man, while we no longer move our bodies to do one of the most lazy of tasks, play video games.
Matt B @ Mar 16th 2007 3:40PM
I think these guys are going to be very rich very soon.
Liqwid @ Mar 16th 2007 3:45PM
OHHH! So, basically you're buying an EEG machine, sans medical equipment.
jake buck @ Mar 16th 2007 3:48PM
there's already a commercial product that does this without the goop and all the wires that's coming out in 08
Nushio @ Mar 16th 2007 4:03PM
I was going to post something funny, but for some reason, I changed my mind.
Also, whats this funny hat doing in my head?
Unomi @ Mar 16th 2007 4:50PM
The coolest thing to come is something like Johny Mnemonic or like in the Matrix. Uploading information / knowledge to your brain so it can really do something with it. Like Neo who just loads all the martial arts into his brain. That would be something to make some money with.
On the otherhand, you could easily fry your brain by burning it with such an overload of information. You would go like nuts in a snap. (What pun?)
- Unomi -
Andir3.0 @ Mar 16th 2007 5:34PM
I have the sudden urge to trim my bangs REALLY short and let the hair on the rest of my head grow REALLY long.
thom @ Mar 16th 2007 5:42PM
I have one in my lab and developped a matlab driver for it, it's a standard eeg/ecg/emg device, simply a low noise 16 channels amplifier and digitalizer. Nothing new except usb and form factor.
docsharp01 @ Mar 31st 2008 9:34PM
Excellent article and comments about G-Tec's thought control hat.
http://www.1-satellite-tv-facts.com