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Also, there are plans to release a SDK for the device as well so developers can use the biometric data for custom applications and integration (games, accessibility, biofeedback, science, etc).

The NIA hardware captures EMG (muscle), EOG (eye), and EEG (brainwave) data although the first release of the product software only supports muscle-based signals (eye-brow perks, facial tension, etc).

Muscle signal data is the easiest and most dependable across all body types which was why it was selected for first release to consumers. Other signals we record such as EOG/EEG are useful for input mapping, but require a fair amount of per user calibration because biometric properties can vary significantly from person to person. The other signals are not quite as "plug'n'play" as muscle is, which was why they are excluded from the initial product release.

The hardware and the algorithms behind it were developed over many years as accessibility technology for people with physical disabilities. I helped develop the gaming component of the technology several years ago using the Cyberlink hardware and this new hardware and software is built upon many lessons learned since then. (Discovery Channel Interview: http://www.brainfingers.com/media/)

We have some very cool stuff slated for release. Stay tuned! :)

-Michael McIntosh

The OCZ tech is actually done by the same guy that created the Cyberlink http://www.brainfingers.com/ which is for people with disabilities. The detection hardware is 15 years old by this point, and is quite primitive (but functional). The OCZ device is a complete redesign. So OCZ are co-operating with him, but not doing any of the heavy lifting themselves. It's going to be capable of a lot more than binary output though. Even the cyberlink had the capability to output a good range of signals.

>The technology could one day replace remote controls and keyboards and perhaps
>help disabled people operate electric wheelchairs, beds or artificial limbs.

Companies such as Cyberlink, http://www.brainfingers.com/ have products that do this for years. I know, because one of the beta testers of my software eLocutor (that allows you to type with one button, http://holisticit.com/eLocutor/elocutorv3.htm) was an ALS patient who used it to communicate. The thing costs about US$ 2000, which is rather steep.

Is this product/technology substantially cheaper? Potentially? I would be very interested in trying out with autistic children, if they find it easier to communicate this way, than via the complex motor movements that speaking demands. Anyone tried this already?

Arun

There is a company working on this technology specifically to help disabled persons with the focus on making the technology easy to use and affordable. It integrates relatively well with windows. It requires some practice as well. There are specifics on the technology at http://www.brainfingers.com/cyberlink.htm.

Check out these guys. Full multi-axis control, even a brain controlled mouse with clicking. Hell, they even piloted a sailboat with it. I saw it years ago on some science show, and they are still around. Much more advanced than the expensive showpiece in the article.

I remembered seeing a brainwave controlled sailboat on some science show many years ago. I googoled for 'brainwave controlled sailboat' and found these guys, makers of the CyberLink, the device used to control the sailboat. Seems this controller has more than just one axis of control, and many different games, including a maze game, tetris, and pong. This kind of thing has been around for a long time, and other companies are doing it better, but the flashy company with the simple yet super expensive setup is the one going to get mentioned, of course.

I remembered seeing a brainwave controlled sailboat on some science show many years ago. I googoled for 'brainwave controlled sailboat' and found these guys, makers of the CyberLink, the device used to control the sailboat. Seems this controller has more than just one axis of control, and many different games, including a maze game, tetris, and pong. This kind of thing has been around for a long time, and other companies are doing it better, but the flashy company with the simple yet super expensive setup is the one going to get mentioned, of course.

In that vein of thought:
Type using brainwaves =D

My father has a very rare motor neuron disese, multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN). A treatment has been discovered which has reasonable effect, but it is possible he'll be paralysed eventually.

He aquired a device which reads your EEG and uses it to control a computer. Check out http://www.brainfingers.com/ for details. So far he hasn't needed to use it, but in the future it might be a necessity.

Anyway... This seems like ideal technology to combine with the stuff mentioned above. This should be at the OS level after all.

(Just before everyone asks... the device does work, but you need to learn how to control your brainwaves. It's sort of like Palm's Grafiti for your head ;)

Heya Mike, thanks for the compliment! I'm one of two software developers that are working on the Cyberlink Brainfingers technology. In early May we were featured in a special on the Discovery channel called "KAPOW! Superhero Science" where I demonstrated playing the videogame "Oni" using our Cyberlink product and our latest game-enabled software. We've developed software that, using the Cyberlink, can emulate mouse and keyboard macros to allow you to play off-the-shelf games in a novel way. The program is supposed to air again either in June or July. Is that how you found out about us?

I had a couple points I wanted to address regarding your post:

1) We are working on providing a more cost effective version of the Cyberlink that would appeal to the mainstream market. Right now the technology is used primarily for people with physical disabilities but we are currently working on allowing it to be used with games. You can actually fire weapons more quickly using a Cyberlink headband than you can by clicking a mouse button in some cases. Its pretty trippy to use it with a game like Unreal Tournament because as soon as you think about pulling the trigger, you probably already have. :) I can fire 100 milliseconds faster than I normally can using a mouse button. An average person takes about 300 ms to react to something. Using the Cyberlink I can react in 200 ms, sometimes even faster if I'm really "in the zone". It doesn't seem like much, but it can make a significant difference in fast paced games, especially with instant-fire type weapons.

2) We are also taking part in a newly forming "Game Accessibility" committee being headed up by Thomas Weston of Pin Interactive. Our charter involves helping to make games easier to use for people with disabilities. An article about the subject can be found under the title Game Accessibility on the International Game Developers Association website.

How does that apply to you? Well, a lot of very good technology that is designed for people with disabilities ends up in the mainstream consumer market before long. The television remote control is a fine example of such a technology. The Cyberlink (brainfingers) technology originally was part of military research to allow pilots to fly and otherwise control aircraft using brainwaves at the Wright Patterson Airforce base. A scientist working on the project eventually left to form the company Brain Actuated Technologies which I found out about and then went to work with them due to the work that was done at Patterson. :)

Out of curiousity, if a device was available to the general public that allowed people to play video games using brain control, how much would people be willing to spend for something like that? Does the idea of such a thing freak people out?

Take care all. :)

Michael McIntosh
Senior Software Developer
Brain Actuated Technologies, Inc.
http://www.brainfingers.com

Actually I really think that the Brainfingers technology is headed in the right direction.. Sensors need more development though, I don't want to have to shave my head to use it. :/
Bio Feedback is key to learning how to control the various Brain waves that the device monitors, If I had a few extra Grand($ 2,050 + shipping)laying around I'd get the Brainfingers device! well that and a HDTV!

Take a look at this company

Take a look at this company[http://www.brainfingers.com/], they make software that can be controlled using the eyes, maybe she can find it useful in some way.

This is really nothing new.

The Cyberlink Interface: Hands Free Brain-Body Actuated Control for Augmentation and Enhancement of Human Computer Interaction(produced in 1999), and their website

And an article from last year about a similar device.

Input devices will have to miniaturize as well and become more direct, intuitive and able to be used while your hands (and part of your attention) are engaged elsewhere.

The Cyberlink System represents this next step in the evolution of the human-computer input interface. The Cyberlink System is a BrainBody actuated control technology that combines eye-movement, facial muscle, and brain wave bio-potentials detected at the user's forehead to generate computer inputs that can be used for a variety of tasks and recreations.

skip a paragraph

The forehead is a convenient, noninvasive measuring site rich in a variety of bio-potentials. Signals detected by three plastic sensors in a headband are sent to a Cyberlink interface box which contains a bio-amplifier and signal processor. The interface box connects to the PC computer's serial port. The forehead signals are amplified, digitized and translated by a patented decoding algorithm into multiple command signals, creating an efficient, intuitive
and easily learned hands-free control interface.

Three different types or channels of control signals are derived from the forehead signals by the Cyberlink Interface. The lowest frequency channel is called the ElectroOculoGraphic or EOG signal. This is a frequency region of the forehead bio-potential that is responsive primarily to eye movements. The EOG signal is typically used to detect left and right eye motion. This signal can be mapped to left and right cursor motion or on/off switch control.

He experiences "electrical storms" in his body, which appear as involuntary muscle contractions and his body starts shaking. Professor Doherty, who has been working with this individual, reports that during these storms it looks as if the individual is going through electrical shock.
.....This individual has used the Cyberlink system for approximately 14 times. At first, he had little control. When the "electrical storms" occurred, the signals, as indicated by the Cyberlink graphical display, went off the display or reached maximum values.

As someone who works with a related technology (Brain Actuated Technology), I wanted to address some of the concerns I've seen a few people raise. Before I get too deeply into the discussion, I'll refer you to a previous reponse I made to the "Surfing The Net With Brainwaves?" article. If you are curious to see what I have said already about the subject, check it out.

I'm a software engineer that works with a device called a Cyberlink that allows you to control the mouse cursor (and other peripherals) using a combination of Brain/Body signals (EEG, EMG & EOG).

From the electrode arrangement in the NASA picture I saw, it looks like they using EMG (electromyograph) signals to detect discreet electrical impulses for specific muscles. There is a lot of electrical energy involved in actuating the muscles in your body, the hard part is figuring which muscle signals of the multitudes are the ones you care about.

One of the most difficult aspects of these types of technologies is resolving a "rest state". Energy is expended even when you are trying to hold a bodypart, like your arm, still. If the movement of a joystick/mouse/wheel was mapped directly electrical activity in your arm, wrists and hands you would have to worry about keeping them stationary to begin with so you wouldn't generate interference (and cause the device to move left when you wish it to stay where it is). Electrically, we are very noisy...

If you aren't concentrating, it may cause control to "drift". For example, if I move the mouse around with my hand and I let go, the mouse cursor usually will remain exactly where you left it on the screen. But with devices that use raw biosignals, it is hard to "turn-off" electrical signals present in your body so that the device interpreting them will stop reacting to them. When I use the brain actuated mouse interface with the Cyberlink, its kinda hard to keep the mouse from NOT moving. Sure, I can move it up/down/left/right when I want to, but when I don't want it to move, it is hard to prevent it from "drifting" slightly in some direction. These are aspects of the technology I am working on fixing. As such, I am intimately familiar with most of the difficulties involved.

In the case of picking up impulses meant for your hands and arm, it becomes even harder because we use our hands all the time for other tasks.

But the good news is that these things can be tuned. There are ways around these limitations and work is being done to resolve these issues. I suffer from tendonitis in my wrists, so *I* at least have a very vested interest in making this technology work. :) This technology is tremendously useful for people with physical disabilities and there is work being done to make the technology more appealing to able-bodied persons as well. Your concerns are duly noted. (by me, at least).

If you have additional questions or concerns for someone who is familiar with this technology, feel free to drop me an email and I will do what I can to answer your questions. :)

Mmm, brain-controlled railguns... ;P

PS: An interesting side-note is that it seems to take around 100 milliseconds (1/10 of a second) for a signal to be sent from your brain to get to your index finger and trigger movement *click*. By using a reflex tester (http://www.reflexgame.com/) the quickest I can seem to consistantly react to the screen changing color and click 'stop' seems to be 0.33 seconds. While using the Cyberlink (with electrodes on my forehead) I am able to consistantly react in only 0.22 seconds. So, my reaction time is about 1/10 of a second faster if I don't have to wait for the signal to travel all the way down to my finger. I'm already pretty dangerous in games like Unreal and Quake, but now I can fire that much faster. It is, however, a very odd feeling. You fire faster than you are expecting to. Its surprising. I keep thinking "Whoa, I fired already?" Eventually, we'll all be able to be LPBs of a different variety. ;P

Cheers,

Michael

As someone who works with a related technology (Brain Actuated Technology), I wanted to address some of the concerns I've seen a few people raise. Before I get too deeply into the discussion, I'll refer you to a previous reponse I made to the "Surfing The Net With Brainwaves?" article. If you are curious to see what I have said already about the subject, check it out.

I'm a software engineer that works with a device called a Cyberlink that allows you to control the mouse cursor (and other peripherals) using a combination of Brain/Body signals (EEG, EMG & EOG).

From the electrode arrangement in the NASA picture I saw, it looks like they using EMG (electromyograph) signals to detect discreet electrical impulses for specific muscles. There is a lot of electrical energy involved in actuating the muscles in your body, the hard part is figuring which muscle signals of the multitudes are the ones you care about.

One of the most difficult aspects of these types of technologies is resolving a "rest state". Energy is expended even when you are trying to hold a bodypart, like your arm, still. If the movement of a joystick/mouse/wheel was mapped directly electrical activity in your arm, wrists and hands you would have to worry about keeping them stationary to begin with so you wouldn't generate interference (and cause the device to move left when you wish it to stay where it is). Electrically, we are very noisy...

If you aren't concentrating, it may cause control to "drift". For example, if I move the mouse around with my hand and I let go, the mouse cursor usually will remain exactly where you left it on the screen. But with devices that use raw biosignals, it is hard to "turn-off" electrical signals present in your body so that the device interpreting them will stop reacting to them. When I use the brain actuated mouse interface with the Cyberlink, its kinda hard to keep the mouse from NOT moving. Sure, I can move it up/down/left/right when I want to, but when I don't want it to move, it is hard to prevent it from "drifting" slightly in some direction. These are aspects of the technology I am working on fixing. As such, I am intimately familiar with most of the difficulties involved.

In the case of picking up impulses meant for your hands and arm, it becomes even harder because we use our hands all the time for other tasks.

But the good news is that these things can be tuned. There are ways around these limitations and work is being done to resolve these issues. I suffer from tendonitis in my wrists, so *I* at least have a very vested interest in making this technology work. :) This technology is tremendously useful for people with physical disabilities and there is work being done to make the technology more appealing to able-bodied persons as well. Your concerns are duly noted. (by me, at least).

If you have additional questions or concerns for someone who is familiar with this technology, feel free to drop me an email and I will do what I can to answer your questions. :)

Mmm, brain-controlled railguns... ;P

PS: An interesting side-note is that it seems to take around 100 milliseconds (1/10 of a second) for a signal to be sent from your brain to get to your index finger and trigger movement *click*. By using a reflex tester (http://www.reflexgame.com/) the quickest I can seem to consistantly react to the screen changing color and click 'stop' seems to be 0.33 seconds. While using the Cyberlink (with electrodes on my forehead) I am able to consistantly react in only 0.22 seconds. So, my reaction time is about 1/10 of a second faster if I don't have to wait for the signal to travel all the way down to my finger. I'm already pretty dangerous in games like Unreal and Quake, but now I can fire that much faster. It is, however, a very odd feeling. You fire faster than you are expecting to. Its surprising. I keep thinking "Whoa, I fired already?" Eventually, we'll all be able to be LPBs of a different variety. ;P

Cheers,

Michael

Here's the information to what I was speaking about for those interested in the above thread I posted.

http://www.brainfingers.com/technical.htm extreme thanks to Michael (don't know if he wants his last name posted) for pointing me in the right direction with the link.

There's a good chance that was the chance that was the Cyberlink. (www.brainfingers.com) The inventor, Andrew Junker, worked in the armed services and it was how I first discovered the technology myself. I saw a pilot in a simulator with a headband that said "Cyberlink" in a documentary about the future of avionics. Approximately 2.3 seconds later I was on the 'Net looking for the device so I could have one. :)

The technology itself is something that was discovered years ago but it isn't until recently that advances have made the cost involved low enough to have visiblity for the average consumer. I am a software engineer working with Andrew Junker, the creator of the Cyberlink, on just such technology. The device allows me to sit in front of my computer, without the need to literally lift a finger, and move the mouse cursor around and click and open applications and such. You wear a headband with three (3) eletrodes that rest on your forehead that pick up EEG, EOG and EMG signals for analysis and control. The website itself is a little dated since we're adding new features that we have yet to post. Being a cross-platform developer I am rewriting the API to be able to compile on nearly any environment. Even my Palm Pilot. ;P The people that have already benefitted from this technology greatly are those that have had a serious spinal injury or something that leaves them paralyzed and unable to interact with others in a normal way. Some have learned how to use the Cyberlink well enough to type messages to their family after years of silence in a vegetative state. Pretty cool stuff. ;P *chuckle* It has a couple ways to be used and most people can pick up basic control with the unit within a few minutes. Since I suffer from tendonitis I'd also interested in the technology as a way to allow my wrists to recover from the injury. Its cool technology and it is available now... If interested, check it out at www.brainfingers.com.. The website even has a message board where people discuss some of the basics about the device and the technology involved. If you have any questions about what sorts of things the development API allows you to do, you can drop me an email at cyberlink_at_lifepod_dot_com. Cheers. :) Michael

The technology itself is something that was discovered years ago but it isn't until recently that advances have made the cost involved low enough to have visiblity for the average consumer. I am a software engineer working with Andrew Junker, the creator of the Cyberlink, on just such technology. The device allows me to sit in front of my computer, without the need to literally lift a finger, and move the mouse cursor around and click and open applications and such. You wear a headband with three (3) eletrodes that rest on your forehead that pick up EEG, EOG and EMG signals for analysis and control. The website itself is a little dated since we're adding new features that we have yet to post. Being a cross-platform developer I am rewriting the API to be able to compile on nearly any environment. Even my Palm Pilot. ;P The people that have already benefitted from this technology greatly are those that have had a serious spinal injury or something that leaves them paralyzed and unable to interact with others in a normal way. Some have learned how to use the Cyberlink well enough to type messages to their family after years of silence in a vegetative state. Pretty cool stuff. ;P *chuckle* It has a couple ways to be used and most people can pick up basic control with the unit within a few minutes. Since I suffer from tendonitis I'd also interested in the technology as a way to allow my wrists to recover from the injury. Its cool technology and it is available now... If interested, check it out at www.brainfingers.com.. The website even has a message board where people discuss some of the basics about the device and the technology involved. If you have any questions about what sorts of things the development API allows you to do, you can drop me an email at cyberlink_at_lifepod_dot_com. Cheers. :) Michael

The technology itself is something that was discovered years ago but it isn't until recently that advances have made the cost involved low enough to have visiblity for the average consumer. I am a software engineer working with Andrew Junker, the creator of the Cyberlink, on just such technology. The device allows me to sit in front of my computer, without the need to literally lift a finger, and move the mouse cursor around and click and open applications and such. You wear a headband with three (3) eletrodes that rest on your forehead that pick up EEG, EOG and EMG signals for analysis and control. The website itself is a little dated since we're adding new features that we have yet to post. Being a cross-platform developer I am rewriting the API to be able to compile on nearly any environment. Even my Palm Pilot. ;P The people that have already benefitted from this technology greatly are those that have had a serious spinal injury or something that leaves them paralyzed and unable to interact with others in a normal way. Some have learned how to use the Cyberlink well enough to type messages to their family after years of silence in a vegetative state. Pretty cool stuff. ;P *chuckle* It has a couple ways to be used and most people can pick up basic control with the unit within a few minutes. Since I suffer from tendonitis I'd also interested in the technology as a way to allow my wrists to recover from the injury. Its cool technology and it is available now... If interested, check it out at www.brainfingers.com.. The website even has a message board where people discuss some of the basics about the device and the technology involved. If you have any questions about what sorts of things the development API allows you to do, you can drop me an email at cyberlink_at_lifepod_dot_com. Cheers. :) Michael

Brainfingers seems to have a mind/computer device in production, check it out .

Speaking of direct neural interfaces, I found a link from that FAQ to a company called Brain Actuated Technologies, Inc. Looks like they use a few forehead sensors to detect electrical and muscular impulses. Neat, but quite an expensive toy. =)

I actually tried out something similar at Epcot Center in Orlando, FL. It was a kind of neural joystick hooked into an SGI workstation running a skiing game. You basically stuck your finger in the interface and it would pick up electrical impulses from your brain. It took a few tries to get myself going safely, but it got easier after some practice.

Check out http://www.brainfingers.com. No need to learn how to use funky keyboard or scare bystanders with voice commands. Just think:
"rm -rf /".