Brainwave Controls

[AndrewATL]

That's insane, and only $15.

[biliousfrog]

It's a very comprehensive site for an April fool's joke but I'm still a bit weirded out by it...could it be real?

[Ivan D Young]

By the end of the year there should be several "MindControl" head bands to choose from. For the PC folks, OCZ will have a headband that could be used to replace the mouse. I do not think it is released just yet, but hopefully soon. I really want to be able to lean back in my chair and fold my arms while I work!

[tubby]

Dewd, animating with just your mind would rock, I can finally give these worn out wrists a break.

[Baltasound]

Dewd, animating with just your mind would rock, I can finally give these worn out wrists a break.

Or you can use them for..ahem :D


BTW, what does it do actually? I dont think this is possible anyway, the mind is way to complex.

[Magnus3D]

It's probably possible, sure looks like it in the video. But they have most likely had to run some math that simplifies and reduces the huge amount of instructions a brain generates. And they must have packed together large groups of whatever to make it easier to control them like that. What you see in the video is still very primitive and crude, it needs much more refining before it's useful as now it seems awfully difficult to control and it requires a massive amount of concentration from the user even for simple tasks. :)

Once they worked more on it, i'd like to have something like that to control my cellphone. It'd be sweet!

/ Magnus

[tubby]

I remember seeing some show on the science channel some time back with a paraplegic who was wired in to a computer. The wires being connected to parts of his brain. And on the computer screen he would move around objects and move the cursor throught the control of his thoughts. This thing doesn't seem too far from that idea. And I believe that video I saw was from the early 90's or so.

[DangerousCliff]

I remember a show on Discover a few years back detailing the US Air Force's research into creating a system for pilots to steer fighters with a similar system. The gist was that the craft were becoming too complex to pilot and do all the other stuff a pilot had to do, so if piloting was as automatic as walking, then they could focus on all the other stuff- like shooting and wotnot.

They had good success with the project according to the show. I find the most interesting thing was the pilots' description of the experience. They said it was just something your brain had to learn, there was no way to describe how to do it, something like describing how to move your arm- you just do it.

Apparently the Scientist heading up the project had a falling out with the Air Force and is now content to sit on his yacht and pilot around the bay with the device.

I'll have to dig up links now...

[Dtox]

Since reality is merely your brains interpretation of electrical signals, it's most likely possible to isolate signals of a particular frequency within the brain.
Autonomous functions within the brain probably transmit electrical signals on stronger wavelengths that have priority because you use them with such frequency.

The more you perform specific tasks, the easier they become because the connections within the neural networks of the brain get stronger the more they connect with each other.
Just like the less you use specific functions of the brain, the harder they become to perform because the connections used to perform them whither and die from lack of use.
Just like muscular atrophy.

BTW, I don't think he said $15, probably $50. You can't even get a normal set of headphones for $15, let alone Bluetooth headset with neural transmitters.
_______

Animating, or even modeling probably wouldn't be so great using this technology as it would probably require you to know the geometrical coordinates of every move made before it's made.
Not to mention the numeric values of the position/scale/rotation of every vertex at every location along the curve of movement.

Doesn't sound so great when you put it that way does it?

It's probably also a strange concept to get used to.
Controlling movement without actually performing a movement of any sort.
Your natural instinct is to move something physically to make it move.
Did you ever notice how a person who isn't familiar with the inner workings of how a computer works will click repeatedly on something if it doesn't open immediately?
Which is exactly the opposite of the right course of action.
Doing that stacks the input operations on top of each other, making the intended operation even slower.

It's these little breaks in logic that I think will make this technology not as successful as you'd think it would be.
Some people will LOVE it. Mainly for what it represents.
But the majority of non-technical gamers will find it awkward and counter-intuitive.
It will also make the experience of gameplaying less physically interactive.
Which will take away a vital part of the whole interaction to most people.

For instance, the Wii.
Part of the whole Wii attraction is it's physically interactive quality.
Which is why people who love the Wii love it in the first place.

Part of peoples ability to be good at gaming relies heavily on muscle memory, people develop a routine that's based on physical actions to perform a task.
Take that away, and it relies on mental concentration.
Which a small percentage of people have in abundance, and a large percentage of people have a marked lack of.

Combine these facts with the concept of marketing.
And I think it will result in a specialty market.
So if it isn't embraced by the masses, companies won't want to waste resources developing for it.

I could see this going the way of the original "Nintendo Power Glove".
Great idea but it just failed to reach critical mass from a marketing perspective.

Like the guy said, they created the hardware on an OEM basis.
The software is up to the game developers.
So if this isn't quick to be adopted by consumers(gamers), it'll lose steam from a development perspective.
I think that this initial attempt will fail, and they'll be forced to change the development method or input/output protocol to be based on a pre-existing method such as force feedback which is already there.
If this product could be made to work with force feedback, then the building blocks are already in place and those who want to use it can without dooming the whole concept.
The bad part is that will likely increase the cost of the product.

But if game developers have to go out of their way to develop for a product that only appeals to a small part of the gaming community, this will fade like a fart in the wind.
It's more likely that a new genre of games will be created to be used with this.
But that won't happen by Thanksgiving.

[AndrewATL]

just think if they implemented this into Star wars: Force unleashed game. controlling the force with your mind.

[AikoWorld]

This is real,

Couple of game company`s already made the deal to incoorporate the headset, thou i dont remeber which company the headset was from, didnt had the chance to test it out.

But i know somebody who did, and there going to use it in a 2012 game.

So just a couple years from now and we will all have a new dimension of gaming.

edit:

I found it http://www.emotiv.com/

and read this how it works
http://www.news.com/8301-13772_3-9874515-52.html

[Layer01]

from the video on neurosky's website the system looks realy lame.

Sort of like a Button..that you can switch on or off..but a button thats really hard to control.

Its hardly the solution for controlling our computers with our minds as the game they demo had you choosing the action you wanted, push, pull, lift, etc then focus and it would do that..doesn't seem that revolutionary to me.

Looks like it can tell the difference between a normal state of mind and one that is concentrating..but other than that it can't interpret your thoughts, so again..its like a button.
you select pull, focus, the head set registers you're focusing..and the software makes it pull.

wow, mind blowing :rolleyes:

[Silvermyst]

My first impression upon looking at the sight without reading any of it, was that it looks like a website you'd find in GTAIV, like babysovernight.com.
There's just something about it that looks extremely tacky :P

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