Biometric Devices: Using Your Mind To Control The Screen
Last year at the Game Developers Conference we got to see quite a few cool new gadgets, many of which had to do with some sort of eye tracking or head tracking. We very quickly stopped by the booth of Neurosky, a company in San Francisco, who is creating new ways of game play with the help of the EEG.
Electroencephalograph, or EEG, has been used in hospitals now for decades to detect brainwaves. An EEG can monitor the alpha waves that generally respond to relaxation, or the beta waves that indicate alertness. A new novelty in the gaming market has jumped on the technology to produce headsets that are basically dumbed-down versions of EEG machines – cheaper and easier to use. The headsets don’t need the gloppy conductive gel to operate either. With the headset, Neurosky and other companies can take advantage of the sensor (a typical EEG machine has around 20 sensors) to control and monitor, even if it’s less accurate.
The devices work by filtering out electrical interference from man-made appliances and physical movements while isolating brain waves. After mapping the brain waves to mental states, emotions or thoughts using proprietary algorithms, the monitors display the output from the headset being mapped to emotions in, say, Neurosky’s software. The sophisticated algorithms cut through the idiosyncrasies of individual brains and hone in on subtle signals that every person produces when they experience a particular state.
As of now the headset monitors two states – being focused and being relaxed. The author of a recent article at Bit-Tech sat in one of Neurosky’s offices to test out a game, focusing on a barrel onscreen in order to set it on fire. After a few moments of concentration, that author was finally able to lift the digital barrel into the air, making it spark and fizzle and ultimately burst into flames.
It’s not telekinesis, magic as it may seem. Companies throughout the gaming industry, as well as those in health care, automobile and education sectors are currently devising applications to utilize the technology of the simplified EEG readers. Apparently, even the US National Archery team is using the technology as well.
Take a look at the article link below for more details and keep an eye out for various companies using the EEG technology in the near future.
Control Your PC With Your Mind
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