Brain Controlled Tightrope Video Game Shown

Bob Sherpowski writes "According to CBBC News, they have come up with a 'game' that you control directly with your brain waves. University College Dublin researchers have designed a game where you are trying to get a monster to walk across a tightrope - if he leans one way or the other you have to concentrate on a box on either side of the tightrope to make him tip the other way. It's still in research and it's not for sale yet but it's the first step. "

Comments

The beginning of the end?

[ChaoticChaos]

I just can't wait for the first virus to be unleashed on something like this. Instead of the device sending OUT information, it would start sending information IN.

In all seriousness, I'm overwhelmed with Doubleclick ads now, I don't need them being inputted directly.

God help us if Microsoft gets ahold of this. Instead of, "Where do you want to go tomorrow", it's "What do we want you to think about today". ;-)

Btw, what happens if you're using that device and you happen to catch a glimpse of Janet Jackson's Half Time show? Is it suddenly blown straight off your forehead? LOL!

This is what the government wants!!!!

[the_2nd_coming]

this will train out brain waves to all be the same so they can control us with better accuracy and reliability!!!!

DON'T BUY IT!!!!!!

Re:This is what the government wants!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't worry!

Wil Wheaton is a /.er! So he can help fix Cmdr Data, while that girl distracts everyone, and then Data will use the blinky light thing that Wil figured out with the help of the medical computer's brain simulator to save everyone, after transporting himself around the ship a few times...

Whoo!

[debrain]

The Matrix, v0.1.

I can think of a prototype game.

[blcamp]

"Strip Poker"!

Re:I can think of a prototype game.

[irving47]

Yeah right, and the control set shorts out as soon as a pasty-faced geek actually sees a woman half-naked.

Bah!

[nother_nix_hacker]

I don't have a brain you insensitive clod!

Remember

[LooseChanj]

You must think *in russian*

Re:Remember

[74nova]

You must think *in russian*

why, does the game play me?

Re:Remember

[surprise_audit]

No, probably he said that because of this book:

Firefox

and, of course, the movie starring Clint Eastwood:

Firefox DVD

which are about a Russian warplane codenamed Firefox that has a thought-controlled weapons system.

Re:Remember

[appleprophet]

Ah, that explains why my web browser launches missiles from time to time.

Re:Remember

[vec sibarra]

Or alternatively from Neon Genesis Evangelion, where Asuka tells Shinji that he must "think in German" to control the Evangelion.

If the monster dies

[g0bshiTe]

Does that mean teh player also dies, cause of the whole "what the brain thinks" issue?

It's a start but...

[JosKarith]

...just wait for the first Force Feedback models

Of course

[xaoslaad]

Of course, playing the game seems to leave a lot of people looking and acting like this: guy, so most people are hesitant to try it out.

Wow! This will be great for all those games...

[Anonymous Coward]

...where the action is confined to leaning slightly left or slightly right.

"The Game"

[SWroclawski]

I've seen Star Trek Next Generation- I know what happens now... we all have oh so much fun with the game, as it starts to control our minds and we become enslaved.

Luckily Wil Wheaton read Slashdot and hopefully will remember the blinking light sequence that saves us all.

Re:"The Game"

[Ayaress]

That's what they thought, and why it was so easy for people to try the game. But the game was more than just an audiovisual game, it directly effected their brains, releasing a powerful surge of pleasure (complete with suddenly relaxing muscles, dialating pupils, and a heavy sigh - sort of an electronic orgasm, the way the actors portrayed it) when you got the disk things into the wierd conical wormlike things.

If you've read Richter 10, or The Terminal Man, or even read about the experiments with hooking the pleasure centers of a rat's brain up to a button, you'd know the addictive power that that can have.

A rat hooked up to the aforementioned device will eventuall stop eating, drinking, and will ignore receptive female rats to push the button repeatedly, because the electrical jolt to the brain's pleasure centers produces a far stronger pleasure than any normal stimulus ever can.

In The Terminal Man, the guy's brain eventually learned to manufacture false seizures to trigger the same sort of electrical impulses from his implant.

In Richter 10, many people became endophin addicts when their bodies learned to produce headaches on demand to trigger endorphin rushes from their anti-migraine implants.

The Game was the same sort of thing, while holodecks were just glorified video games - they certainly produced pleasure, and anything that produces pleasure can prove addictive, and the people in Star Trek clearly have to have a level of self control to prevent that; but The Game operated directly on the brain, and could produce far greater feelings of pleasure than is possible normally, and thus far harder to resist.

Concentrating on images inside the brain

[kjba]

Although this seems to be a promising field, I don't see yet how it can help people that are completely paralysed. The user has to concentrate on certain external images. This means that the user must still be able to move his eyes. For those people that can still move their eyes, better alternatives involving very precise eye-movement sensors exist.

I would be much more impressed if they could tell from my brainwaves wether I am thinking of a car or a dog.

Re:Concentrating on images inside the brain

[deman1985]

Very true. In its current phase, it is not directly applicable for pari/quadriplegics, but again, it is still only in very early stages of development. With hope, it will eventually progress far enough such that people will be able to walk again just as if they'd never become paralyzed or lost their legs. If they're able to monitor for the proper brainwaves, they should be able to pick up on the impulses that would normally trigger muscle contractions in the legs. The main problem when monitoring for these types of brainwaves, however, is that a person doesn't actually "concentrate" on individual muscle groups; it's mostly involuntary. As a result, it must be more difficult for them to pick these impulses out.

There are many applications for this type of technology even beyond restoring body movement, though. It might become a totally new way of accepting user input for desktop machines. Think of the application you want to run, and it runs it, or write documents by merely thinking words. For gaming, it could mean having the ultimate life-like simulation for first person shooters. Such technology would probably require people to concentrate better on the tasks at hand, however-- no wondering thoughts...

Re:Concentrating on images inside the brain

[imkonen]

I would assume that's the long-term goal...it's not there yet, but eventually they would not want to be limited to helping just those people who can still move their eyes. New technologies typically start out unable to beat (in terms of speed, reliability or ease of use) the older more entrenched technologies they will eventually replace.

The interesting thing to me was that the boxes are flashing at different frequencies. I suspect their machine is not picking up anything that could be positively identified as "thinking about a particular box" but simply picking up a frequency (or a harmonic) in the brain-wave that matches the frequency of the box you're looking at. It might not even be reacting to conscious thoughts per-se but neural signals in the visual pathway. Does this machine work if you close your eyes and try to picture one the flashing boxes in your head? You might have to train yourself to think of a box flashing at a particular frequency, but if you could, it's a start. No answer on the news site of course.

Even if it never gets to the point where it can tell you're thinking of a dog or a car, it could be useful. Even if paraplegics have to train themselves to think at a few different frequencies to communicate by "20 questions" (since this is /., think Capt. Pike here), if that's all they've got, it beats the hell out of having nothing at all.

Applications?

[Killjoy_NL]

I think this is great research, it could give paraplegics (sp?) etc the possibility to walk again with mechanical limbs.

Or am I wrong ??

Re:Applications?

[Ayaress]

Mechanical limbs would certainly be an eventual goal, but even in the meantime, it could be used to control electric wheelchairs. I imagine my uncle Danny would have a much less painful life if he didn't have to drag himself around in his wheelchair like he does (he only has full control of his right leg, none of his left, and limited control of his right shoulder, so he can't control an electric wheelchair, but he can maneuver one with his good leg).

Oh no

[millahtime]

I can see it now...... I am eating ice cream cause my hands are free and i blow the game cause of brain freeze.

Virtual Valerie

[superpulpsicle]

Virtual Valerie will never be the same.

Oh great

[unassimilatible]

Instead of my ass growing huge from sitting and playing video games, now my body will atrophy and my head will grow like one of those Talosians.

typing reply with my brain...

[mr_resident]

This is cool, but [needsex] not news. I [william shatner's birthday today - how many more?] saw a [excellent cleavage] report on this several years ago. When [is lunch?] do they expect [what kind of underwear is she wearing?] to have a working prototype for [I need a hug] a really cool game [is there coffee?] like Doom3? [needsex]

Re:typing reply with my brain...

[elhaf]

Brainmaster has been doing this for years. I just sold mine on e-bay. The games are all silly, because there is no way to have a Doom-like experience with a single bit of input, which is currently what these amount to (I'm on the target wavelength or I'm not). While on target, the game advances, otherwise it doesn't. Kind of like the original rebel assault, but without a fire button. Whee.

We had those in the 1970s...

[Punk Walrus]

When I was growing up, there were a lot of "ESP Kits" that had crude monitors that supposedly measured brain waves for a new-age fad called "Biofeedback." Mostly they were for helping you get into a medictate trance, but one of them claimed to run a race car slot track based on Alpha Waves (state of relaxed brain activity in mediation), so the the excitiment of winning made you go slower, and not giving a crap whether you won or not made you win. Seemed like a pretty odd balance. That might have been good to learn "the ultimate poker face."

Having never owned one of those biofeedback devices, I can't say if they ever worked, but I saw lots of ads for them in the mid-late 1970s in magazines like Omni and Popular Mechanics.

Hell, I did this 20 years ago...

[TheVidiot]

I simply interfaced to my VCS.

not the only one...

[Polo]

There's already a game out there that does this.

the journey to wild divine

It uses biofeedback to control the game, which is a little different than the technique used in this game.

This is similar to the Mind Drive 10 Years ago.

[eBayDoug]

A friend of mine thought he was gonna get rich when he was the manufacturer's rep for a product called The Mind Drive. You could use your thoughts to "think right or left" and these thoughts would register in your finget and be transmitted to the screen as you slalom down a ski slope. It was actually pretty cool Here is a CNET article from 1995. The Mind Drive

Lots of cool brainwave computer interface going on

[spellicer]

I recently went to a thesis defense studying some brainwave computer interface. There seems to be a lot of interesting study going on here. This particular thesis was studying a particular type of interface that focuses on what one of the commitee members called the "ah ha!" reaction. The implemented system used a scull cap with probes like an EEG on it that targeted a particular set of waves. The user would watch a screen interface and icons representing choices would flash randomly. Whenever the icon the user wanted flashed, they were instructed to count that as a flash in their head. After enough samples were taken, that selection was made. The experiment they did involved a user having a rebotic arm make a cup of coffee. This study measured the change in brainwave at a particular period of time. Also mentioned were other studies where immediate measurement of a 'focused'/'relaxed' change in another set of brainwaves to control a cursor on the screen. Both types were also non-invasive using EEG type technolgoy. Also mentioned were current experiments in invasive brain/computer interaction where direct measurement of neurons in monkeys allowed them to control a robotic arm of some sort.

Does the human brain have limited output potential

[0x0d0a]

I'm curious as to whether the human brain has a limit as to number of outputs. We know that with a feedback device so that a person can see what they're doing, it's possible to teach someone to be able to control characteristics of their brain waves. This could, presumably, be used as an output to control some device. What happens if we just take this higher resolution, add more types of devices Babies don't grow up knowing how to operate their hands and feet -- they have to see them moving and form links to understand what output signals correspond to "leg moved". Why couldn't we do the same with the brain? We wait for particular parts of the brain to be activated at a particular level, and treat that as a signal. I've no idea what kind of bandwidth we're talking about, but if you consider the complexity of talking and that we can deal with going from zero knowledge about talking to learning how to talk properly, that we could manage the same with a brain output device.

It would be nice to be able to type into my computer, to be able to interface in a more efficient manner than putting myself in a particular position, putting my fleshy extensions on a bunch of blocks on a keyboard, and then having the keyboard record how they wiggle and tell the computer.

OTOH, a brain-controlled computer would deprive my fingers of their precious exercise.

Oh, yes...a hands-free headset with goggles, one controlled by the brain, would be terribly cool.

This isn't really new.

[Halthar]

This really isn't all that new. IBVA has been working with this for a while, and also does many other things. There are kits to use brainwave patterns to fastforward or rewind your VCR/DVD Player/CD Player, create midi compositions from your brainwaves while you sleep, and a game control system for consoles. You can also record brainwave patterns while you jog or do whatever else and aren't within range of the receiver.

Oh, and they also claim to have some Linux stuff in the pipe as well. Though, admittedly, I don't know how long it's been "coming soon"

Tech Demo?

[screwballicus]

I'd certainly consider this interesting material for a tech demo, but can it function within a real game?

A game presumably has to be fun, and its controls conducive to that, and while the controls for a game including this functionality might be a remarkable technical feat, they could also be absolutely infuriating. We'll have to see.

finally!

[yulek]

we finally return to a time where you have to use your brain to play a computer game...

The new pong

[FunkyELF]

I couldn't agree more. This is a revolutionary step while at the same time, it is a pretty lame game. If games of this type advance the same way we have gone from a square dot bouncing back and forth the result in about 10 years or so will blow us away. this signature is protected under GPL

Re:The new pong

[kin_korn_karn]

pong was lame?

It's only a matter time..

[WaterTroll]

..theoretically before the experience of playing a game or even watching a movie is completely "neural" without extermal stimuli. If you've taken any psychology class you might have studied the research involving converting analogue sound to digital sound then to chemical neural impulses for the brain. The same thing goes for vision. Originally the patient had to carry around a cart that had housed the eleoctronic device that did this. Now it's a small belt sort of device, essentially smaller and more accurate. Imagine sometime in the future (and who knows when) that we have perfected the conversion of sound we hear to action potentials in the brain. We could even have devices that pick up signals unrecognizable by the human ear (radio waves) and convert them into action potentials. Think of this for somatosensory mechanisms in the brain, vision, smell, everything. If you've read the science fiction series Otherland you may understand what I am talking about. I also think it opens a lot of doors in discovering what really creates the "conscious" experience of sense. That is, how action potentials in our brain create the reality of the outside world that see, feel, hear, etc.

You can build your own EEG kit

[Slinky Saves the Wor]

The OpenEEG people aim to create an affordable EEG kit. There's already some schematics for home tinkerers.

Now I feel bad because I didn't pay attention to learning electronics when I was younger...

Not to ruin your idea

[SmallFurryCreature]

but people who are paralyzed usually are from the head down. It is damage to the spine and last time I check your eyes are not attached to your spine.

These people can in fact move their eyes. That is how current systems work, by tracking the movement off the eyes they can manipulate a pointer over a keyboard.

Also this is just one way of doing it. I seen earlier experiments that worked simply by making the user think of two widely different things. Using that as calibration and then controlling something by thinking of those two things.

So in fact what you suggest was what they used in one experiment and it worked, tv presentator was capable of doing it with only a few minutes of training.

Flashing lights is just easier to make a working model I guess but in practice this could work for anyone with a working brain and who is capable of receiving input sufficient to learn about this.

Pretty amazing stuff really.

Hee

[kabdib]

Right before everything fell apart at Atari (in 1984) there was this headband controller. The designer thought he was a genius. Atari was losing millions of bucks a day, but he was wandering the halls with this thing strapped to his head, certain that he was going to make millions on royalties.

You wrapped the band around your noggin and a couple of electrodes picked up changes in resistance caused by tensing your muscles. So you could furrow your brow (and move a paddle to the left...) or unfurrow (and move the paddle to the right...) and thus play pong, hands-free. (After five or ten minutes, users generally had a headache). Of course, the sweat of exertion changed the skin resistance as you played, and you had to recalibrate the thing every couple of minutes.

You can clean joysticks. But a sweaty headband, just used by someone else? Ick!

Seriously: A controller with fewer than "a few nines" of reliability isn't much of a controller, unless you're handicapped or something and can do nothing else.

More BCI information

[Rathumos]

Some further links for more information on Brain-Computer Interfaces:

Upcoming talk and demonstration on the development of Brain-Computer Interfaces: http://www.notacon.org/speakers.html#lowne (shameless plug)

Invasive, motor-cortical BCI development at Utah: http://www.bioen.utah.edu/cni/Projects/Motor.htm

Mike Gibbs' work with BCIs at Oxford University's Robotics Group: http://www.robots.ox.ac.uk/~mgibbs/research.html

The Neural Prostheses program at the National Institutes of Health includes calls for proposals in BCI development: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/npp/

The University of British Columbia's BCI research group: http://www.ece.ubc.ca/~garyb/BCI.htm

Results of the 2003 Brain Computer interface competition (focuses on signal processing techniques): http://ida.first.fraunhofer.de/projects/bci/compet ition/results/index.html

BCI development at the Cognitive Science and Technology group at the Helsinki University of Technology: http://www.lce.hut.fi/research/bci/

Dr. Jessica Bayliss's BCI work and extensive bibliography (very important, seminal work on BCI development): http://www.cs.rit.edu/~jdb/research/ and http://www.cs.rit.edu/~jdb/research/baylissThesis. pdf

Dr. Charles Anderson's work at Colorado State University with EEG pattern classification in BCI systems: http://www.cs.colostate.edu/eeg/index.html

Manchester University's Toby Howard has written some good articles on BCIs, mostly for Popular Science: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/aig/staff/toby/research/bc i/

Dr. Michael Black at Brown University teaches a course in BCI development: http://www.cs.brown.edu/courses/cs295-7/home.html

Cyberkinetics, Inc. makes medical-use BCIs: http://www.cyberkineticsinc.com/

Re:This is not, in itself, new

[strictnein]

Interesting mods... it is now "flamebait" to warn someone not to click on a link that shows naked a male wrestler holding another man's ass near his face with a fork in his hand. F'en idiots.

Offtopic, yes, but flamebait?

Follow the link and see what I'm talking about.

Re:something similar years ago?

[blastedtokyo]

It was called MindDrive from a company called Other 90% Technologies. It was released about 10 years ago but apparently you can still buy it from the company in Italy for about $300.

My brain already controls everything i do

[fredrated]

through these interesting appendages called 'hands' and 'feet'. These are actually directly wired to centers in my brain, and they can be used directly to control games, etc.

Seriously folks, with all due respect, why are we spending lots of money to develop what amounts to an inherently low bandwidth control? Trying to control something by modifying brain waves, to make it go 'left' or 'right', will never compete with a directly wired hand, the nerves of which will always have a much higher bandwidth and will always provide faster response with a greater range of control.

This is like trying to fall back on a 300 baud modem in the age of fiber!

Re: Predicted in 1917

[johnrpenner]

this was predicted in 1917:

Man will, in time, manage to implant the death-forces in man,
related to electrical and magnetic forces, with external machines.
He will then be able to direct his intentions, his thoughts into the machine.

(Rudolf Steiner, Individuelle Geistwesen und einheitlicher
Weltengrund, November 25, 1917, Dornach Switzerland)

How about...

[Orne]

Brain powered exoskeleton legs...

I can think of nothing more pertinent to "balance" than the act of walking. :)

Save your money.

[Cruciform]

Here's a much cheaper solution.

1) Rent a copy of your favorite game.

2) Invite your most passive friend over for the day.

3) Set him up in front of the console.

4) Now spent the whole afternoon telling him how to play, what he's doing wrong, and generally hurling abuse at him. "Left you fuck! Turn left! Oh look, now you're DEAD!"

Eventually you'll either have complete control over his actions or he'll crack and shove the controller up your ass.

Just pray it's not the original XBox controller.