brainport
Latest
This device helps the blind navigate by tingling their tongues
Remember the BrainPort, that device that helps the blind get around by sending electrical signals to their tongues? It's finally getting the green light. The Food and Drug Administration has cleared the BrainPort V100 for sale in the US, giving sightless Americans a unique way to augment their perception of the world around them. In its finished form, the BrainPort sends visual signals from a pair of camera-equipped glasses to a set of electrodes that stimulate your tongue based on object characteristics such as distance, movement and shape. You only need to pay close attention to the V100's tingles and vibrations to identify items. It's not the same as restoring vision and won't completely replace guide dogs or other conventional assistance, but it could fill in a lot of missing information.
BrainPort lets you see with your tongue, might actually make it to market
We first saw the crazy BrainPort in 2006, but the intervening time hasn't been wasted by its developers, who've brought the quirky visual aid to the cusp of commercial viability. If you'll recall, the device translates signals from a head-mounted camera to electrical pulses that lightly zap your tongue in response to visual stimuli -- early results have shown people can regain a good bit of their spatial awareness and even read large writing. The next step is FDA approval, which is expected by year's end, meaning that the BrainPort could arrive as early as 2010. There is a steep entry fee though, with prices expected to begin at $10,000, but the very fact you'll be able to buy it is a milestone in our book. Edifying video after the break. [Thanks, Toy]
The Brain Port, neural tongue interface of the future
Seems like every distant vision of the future has man jacking into his gear via some crazy head gear or a plug on the back of the neck or head. We just take it for granted that yeah, that's the fastest way to get to the brain: through the stem or straight into the cortex. Well, think again, because the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition's 30-year neural interface project is yielding fruit -- the kind you can taste. Their Brain Port machine / sensory interface uses 144 microelectrodes to transmit information through sensitive nerve fibers in your lingua, enabling devices to supplement your own sensory perception. The system, which is getting shown off to Navy and Marine Corps divers next month will supposedly have sonar integration for sub-aqueous orientation, but has already apparently given some landlubber blind people the ability to catch balls, "notice" others walking in front of them, and find doors. With IR, radar, sonar, and other forms of detection, the researchers believe this device will obsolete night vision -- even our own eyes -- sooner than later.
A "taste" of the future of gaming
Here is yet another excuse to use the phrase "science fiction becoming reality." Researchers at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition are working hard on a device that will give humans extrasensory perception by attaching electrodes to the tongue. The device, known as "Brain Port," is a narrow strip of red plastic containing 144 microelectrodes, which transmits information from the tongue to the brain through connecting nerve fibers. The technology has been found effective in giving people an internal sonar -- one example of the device in action cited blind people who could "find doorways, notice people walking in front of them and [catching] balls." The article mentions the uses in military (soldiers with an internal sonar to aid with night-time and underwater situations) and underwater crime scene investigation -- there is even a commercially marketed version of the device coming soon. But how could this apply to gaming? As an extension to a first-person shooter, might we replace the on-screen radar with a wired stick of gum that lets our minds know when a bad guy is creeping up behind us? Could we use a device like this for personal headphones? How would you envision this technology becoming applicable in the world of gaming? If the "Brain Port" becomes commercially viable, expect Apple to release the iTongue sometime in 2008 -- sorry, we can't help but be a little tongue-in-cheek.
