Tired of constantly losing the television remote, or having it be stolen by imbeciles in your residence? How about getting carpel tunnel syndrome from trying to use MATLAB? Well then suffer no more, for Tan Le, the president and founder of Emotiv Systems, has created the holy grail of digital interface technology: a wireless EEG headset, presented at the TED conference during July of this year. By measuring neural impulses and transmitting them to Le’s EEG (electroencephalography) software, the headset bridges allows people to interact with digital devices simply by thinking about it, bridging the gap between our consciousness and the digital world, in a manner that I can only describe as a being an awesome combination of science fiction and witchcraft.
A conventional EEG headset is an awkward network of electrodes which are attached to the subject’s scalp using a conductive gel or paste, which transmit neural impulse to said electrodes. Putting the headset on is an uncomfortable and time-consuming endeavour, and the whole system itself can cost upwards of ten-thousand dollars. In contrast, Le’s wireless headset requires no such conductive gel, is much more comfortable for the wearer, and can be put on in a couple of minutes. But wait, there’s more! With prices around several hundred dollars, telepathy with electronics can be fun for the whole family!
A former TED speaker, Evan Grant, was equipped with the device to demonstrate its effectiveness. Grant, who had never been introduced to the device, donned the headset, and in about eight seconds, his baseline brain activity had already been measured and catalogued by Le’s headset and software. A screen displaying a floating cube was shown to Grant, who was told to simply visualize the cube being pulled towards him, out of the screen. Le set her software to measure Grant’s new brain activity and catalogue it as “pull.” After another eight seconds, the program had become acquainted with Grant’s “pull” brainwaves and from that point onward, any time that Grant would visualize the cube coming out of the screen towards him, the cube on the screen would respond accordingly (did I mention that this was tantamount to sorcery?) He was able to control the pull and push motion of the floating cube simply by thinking about the cube moving. A similar demonstration was performed wherein Grant was instructed to think about the cube vanishing from existence (this required significantly more time for Grant to master, as an object simply fading away is too unfamiliar in reality to be able to visualize it without concentrating). However, as a user spends more time practising “thinking” with the headset, the easier it becomes to interact with a digital environment.
This concept of digital telepathy has a myriad of applications in countless fields. First and foremost, with respect to video games, a gamer’s facial expression could be used to control the gestures of the player’s avatar, or let players more “realistically” control magic/magicka/mana/will/Force/biotic powers/plasmids. By integrating this with real world technology one could control a toy helicopter simply by visualizing it lift off from the ground, or close the drapes or turn off the lights in one’s house. Even more inspiring, it has even been experimentally applied to electric wheelchairs for the disabled, who would be able to rotate the chair by winking with the correct eye, or move it forward by smiling. Le’s headset heralds a new age in computer technology, allowing humans to interface directly and more effectively with the digital world. Well, that last part isn’t completely accurate. By “humans,” I really meant cyborgs.
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