Startup company Emotiv Systems have developed a unique and very innovative technology that can connect human brain signals to computer hardware and software.
They have come up with something called as the Emotiv Development Kit which is basically comprised of three detection toolkits as explained below. These toolkits interact with their neuro technology based headset called Project Epoc to capture various brain signals and transfer them as electric signals that can be interpreted as different activities.
Expressiv: The first toolkit Expressiv identifies facial expressions, such as blink, smile, wink etc that will provide for more realistic virtual chatting.
Affectiv: The second toolkit Affectiv detects a user's emotional state such as frustration, anger, excitement etc which would be great for role-playing games. Another interesting use would be to unconsciously rate music in iTunes or videos in YouTube or likes.
Cognitiv: The third toolkit Cognitiv which sounds the most interesting of all, will allow users to manipulate virtual objects using mind control. It supports actions, such as lift, drop, rotate, push, pull, etc.
These kits are currently in alpha phase, so it still has a long way to go before it is ready for consumers like us. But it has certainly brought out an innovation that has a bright future.
You can get some more information here
4 comments:
Actually, only yesterday in one of my class we saw a video very similar to what you are describing but in a medical field. A woman had her one hand amuptated, so it was very hard for her to do day to day chores. For e.g, can you open a jar of peanut butter with one hand?
So, she was given this what is called as "bionic arm", which is made of steel and is connected to the portion where her arm would be. It catches signals from the brain and moves accordingly. So, now she can do her chores, just with a thought. It is pretty safe although she one time poked herself in the eye by mistake (maybe because she just thought, what if I poke myself by mistake and it happened)
What you are decribing looks pretty similar too. It just goes to shows how complex our humain brain is. Actually, now that I read your post again it reminds me that in the video she said her arm is mainly for "Cognitive thoughts".
I am sure this technology will have much more uses in the medical field although its good to try these with simpler fields like the ones you described to alpha, beta test it.
A nice techno post :)
Sounds quite interesting! :) wonder when it will come out of research and into real life.. well that thought sounds scary! Thoughts we keep to ourselves suddenly can make things "happen" *phew* !!
btw, also read ur earlier post, yeah "one night at call center" was strange but i actually liked the ending. thought that was its saving grace. Check out a book called "Timezone" based again on BPOs.. makes very good read.
I know exactly what you are talking about Ricky..I remember reading about the lady and her arm (nice name for a movie?) some time last year.
Yeah, the technology can certainly be used in fields other than gaming, mainly in medical, like it could assist in determining the mental state of unconscious patients.
Thanks!
Hehe...Moonie, I guess mankind can never get over the fear of machines taking over the humans! :)
I'll check out the book whenever I can. Thanks for the suggestion :)
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