Slashdot Mirror
Toys You Control With Your Brain
Kaliann writes "Toys that respond to brainwaves are the next generation of unique user interfaces. The Washington Post looks at the current market appeal and future uses of technology that can meaningfully respond to the thoughts of a user. Currently the toys have a fairly simple basic idea: the harder you concentrate the more the object moves. A sensor on the forehead picks up brain waves that are associated with concentration, then levitates a ball in response: basic biofeedback. While this may seem to be a rather humble beginning, progress in this field could have astounding consequences in the advancement of technologies devoted to thought-controlled devices. As the author points out, Jedi Beer Pong is within our grasp."
Now we can finally use some devices to measure which of our beverages might contain some Old Janx Spirit.
--
make install -not war
No... wait... that's a toy you control with your fingers, tongue, and dick.
Namely, my hand and my penis. I can guarantee they've provided me with more enjoyment over the past few decades than anything in TFA ever could.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 is the magic number.
You mean you have to use your hands? That's a baby's toy!
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
a lot of nosebleeds :/
I've convinced plenty of stoned chicks that they can move my penis with their minds.
Forget Jedi Beer Pong.. I want to make the bottle of Ol' Janx spirit into my opponent's glass.
Then maybe I'll learn to fly...
I put on my robe and wizard hat..
"The harder you concentrate the more the object moves"
Ok take one object ...Living Doll ... I think you know where I am going with this gents
I see no real advances beyond the slow, unfocused, barely moving, concentrating real real hard, with little more than one degree of freedom for decades.
I see no real advancements beyond some newspaper's need to fill column space with dross.
Cybernetic experiments have proven that a monkey can control an arm through brain electrodes exactly like he could move his own arm. The future of prosthetics and articulated replacement limbs lies in this control scheme for certain and is promised to a bright future. And possibly a league of android sport teams remote controlled by geeks with headsets!
Are these things going to "just work" or is there going to be some sort of "not enough midichlorians" BS problem when I get mine home?
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
These toys may be cool, but I can already see a fault with them. I'm fairly knowledgeable about neurofeedback, and I know that messing with the wavelengths of your neocortex without knowing what you're doing can end up making it work improperly. It's best that you consult a licensed (and experienced) practitioner in the field before toying around with these. All though I don't know the details of the frequency that it responds to, I know that there is a delicate balance that must be held between all frequencies to make the mind work at optimum efficiency. Typically, when you even start your neurofeedback sessions, you have to get some big-shot neurologist to take a look at the initial scans (you'll be lucky to find it below a 1000 dollars). I know people who have received full neurofeedback/MRI treatment to get rid of ADD, and they ended up spending around 10k. If you're experienced at controlling all frequencies, or you have received neurofeedback before, there shouldn't be that much of a problem.
Help fight spam
I would say that depends on the level of effort required for necessary interaction with this type of interface. If it requires thinking in new or even slightly different ways, then yes I'm sure children will develop and reinforce those skills from early on. Then again, with refinement, it might make use of already commonly used structures in the brain.
On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
the toys control your brain
Nullius in verba
I would be very interested to see what the creative minds at Nintendo could do with this technology, once it has advanced to a mass consumption level. This could add an interesting element to all games certainly, but games like Brain Age come immediately to mind.
I think the next generation proved conclusively that Toys that use brainwaves are bad for independant thought.
Anyone have a spare android sitting around? We might need it.
While this is cool and all, it kinda feels like cheating. How far are we from a device that can really respond to what you are thinking as opposed to measuring the amount of activity in your brain. Speaking as a programmer ignorant in neuroscience, seems like there is a long chain of events leading up to, say, pressing the Left button on a video game controller. First, the brain receives and processes the input from eyes and ears, then there must be some pretty complicated logic to decide that the right thing to do next is to turn left, then it needs to decide how to go about it (tapping your foot isn't going to do it, a particular finger has to press a particular button), then it needs to send signals to the specific arm and hand muscles to expand and contract in just the right ways so that the end result is pressing the button. I want a toy that can replace this last step and press the button for me in a fraction of time that it takes my fingers to act on my brain's instructions. All this, just so I can kick ass in Pacman
Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
Just curious if this will eventually lead to prostitutes asking for a bailout due to lost business? Worth a thought. ... ;)
I read "Toys Control Your Brain" Look they've already started controlling my brain by hiding words from me! Worst invention ever!
Almost 20 years ago my brother and I played pong on an old system with not-quite mind control. But to others it looked like mind control.
The controllers were lost, so we just used bare wires poked into the ports. One wire in each hand. The tiniest movement would dramatically alter resistance, so we had to remain almost motionless. Not even talking. Even blinking at the wrong time could lose you a point. We got pretty good at playing, but it was strangely exhausting.
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
how about one of these?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GC-000-OC
A thought occurred to me, and I do not like it very much.
What this does, essentially, is take very low level electrical impulses produced by the brain and amplify/convert them into something an external processor can use, for whatever reason.
But what OTHER uses might be obtained? Can other devices use the data? How is it transmitted? Is the data encrypted? Is it secure?
Maybe you can see where I'm going with this...maybe not, but it certainly put a new twist on the possible functions of my trusty tinfoil hat.
Levitating a ball by concentrating? This article is a bit behind. Please refer to:
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/ocz_peripherals/nia-neural_impulse_actuator
And for an earlier poster, no these things will never work straight out the box (not for years anyway), because just like teaching your brain to control your muscles, teaching your brain to control the computer is also a long learning process. It requires mental states and processes that, in some cases, are completely foreign to our brains. Prothetics are a little different because the brain already knows how to control an arm, so by teaching the computer exactly what signal to expect for any given motion, when you get into things like controling additional "appendages" beyond your regular biological nerves, you are, in effect, teaching your brain to use a whole brand new appandage. Now, some of these are very simple - such as the levitating ball if you concentrate trick. It will simply read the brain-wave intensity and if strong enough, the ball will rise. But when you start getting into things even as simple as the OCZ NIA above, where only 3 different brain-waves or "fingers" they call them are picked up by the device, the task for your brain is signifiantly increased. Its never as easy as just WANTing to move forward - the brain wave associated with controling the device has nothing to do with your desire to move forward - at least not right away. Only with long long practice and calibration does your brain adapt and learn and able to actually control a device. Its almost impossible to explain in words the state of mind required for something like this to work. The closest I can come is - for those who have ever practiced mediation or a martial art - the empty zen state one can sometimes achieve with these practices. Thinking nothing, blank. You then throw yourself into the game and watch as your character moves around completely randomly, or so it would seem at first. After a few hours, you begin to see that the motion isn't entirely random. And after many many more hours the subconsious connection between a certain state of mind and the resulting action on the computer screen begins to solidify. You practice long enough, and controling the machine WILL be as easy as walking or lifting your arm - you never even have to think about it - just WANT to do it.
"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."
I would think devices like these will help a lot of people to focus better and improve their concentration. With all the sensory overload and multitasking thrust on us these days, I think that's probably a good thing. The future applications are very promising, if not revolutionary.
I saw an article on these gadgets about a month ago, I'm dying to try one or two out. I just wish the Neuroksy/Uncle Milton's Force Trainer gadget didn't have all those dorky Jedi sounds to distract you -hopefully you can turn them off. (The TFA didn't describe them in detail but other review sites have)
Look back up at my post, now look back down, you're on the Internet. Now look back up. I'm a signature.
Levitating a ball by concentrating? This article is a bit behind. Please refer to: http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/ocz_peripherals/nia-neural_impulse_actuator And for an earlier poster, no these things will never work straight out the box (not for years anyway), because just like teaching your brain to control your muscles, teaching your brain to control the computer is also a long learning process. It requires mental states and processes that, in some cases, are completely foreign to our brains. Prothetics are a little different because the brain already knows how to control an arm, so by teaching the computer exactly what signal to expect for any given motion, when you get into things like controling additional "appendages" beyond your regular biological nerves, you are, in effect, teaching your brain to use a whole brand new appandage. Now, some of these are very simple - such as the levitating ball if you concentrate trick. It will simply read the brain-wave intensity and if strong enough, the ball will rise. But when you start getting into things even as simple as the OCZ NIA above, where only 3 different brain-waves or "fingers" they call them are picked up by the device, the task for your brain is signifiantly increased. Its never as easy as just WANTing to move forward - the brain wave associated with controling the device has nothing to do with your desire to move forward - at least not right away. Only with long long practice and calibration does your brain adapt and learn and able to actually control a device. Its almost impossible to explain in words the state of mind required for something like this to work. The closest I can come is - for those who have ever practiced mediation or a martial art - the empty zen state one can sometimes achieve with these practices. Thinking nothing, blank. You then throw yourself into the game and watch as your character moves around completely randomly, or so it would seem at first. After a few hours, you begin to see that the motion isn't entirely random. And after many many more hours the subconsious connection between a certain state of mind and the resulting action on the computer screen begins to solidify. You practice long enough, and controling the machine WILL be as easy as walking or lifting your arm - you never even have to think about it - just WANT to do it. "The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."
In Soviet Russia... Toy control YOU!
Unforeseen Consequences.
Also, kind of old news, but still pretty interesting read. It's nice to see it applied to the physical realm.
This kind of device would be an interesting controller for a system like, say, the Wii. I kind of wonder how calibration would work, though. Calibrating movement: "Think about walking in the direction that pops up on the screen. When you are done, think 'done!'"
Stupid headline.
Try and control a toy without your brain.
Therefore you control ALL toys with your brain.
Making article quite lame.
New Title Submission: "Look Ma! No Hands!"
End Transmission.
Disclosure: I am in no way associated with Emotiv
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the upcoming Emotiv EPOC:
http://emotiv.com/corporate/2_0/2_2.htm.
This is a sophisticated interface which reads both facial expressions and EEG waves. It enables simple control by thought and is able to measure the intensity of three emotions (boredom, arousal, and frustration I think). It looks amazing. It seems possible that this device could have therapeutic use, or could be used as an aid in, say, meditation. It would also be fun to do experiments on yourself (and if you are an academic on a larger sample) such as watching the emotion readings when viewing pornography or masturbating or playing video games etc.
they should take away his voice-syntho box, and replace it with one of these ping-pong gizmo widgets and tell him that it's his new mouth. I'm betting that Stevie has a working prototype by XMas 2K10 of something that makes this look like a Newton to his iPhone. So to speak.
As far as lucid dreaming goes, you don't even need to buy any fancy gear. If you haven't yet had a lucid dream (one where you are aware of the fact you are dreaming, AND you can sort of control it. Not really control it, but sort of nudge it along in the direction you want. Frinstance the dream where you are being chased by something, you can summon a +5 vorpal blade and confront it. The dream where you are naked in the student center and you are late for your exam and you don't know where it is and you didn't study anyway, you can change it so you are naked in your dorm room with that hot chick in biochem you had been meaning to ask out... I usually wake up at that point because that is stretching reality TOO far, even for a dream...but anyway)
As I was saying, if you've never had a lucid dream, all you need to do is keep a dream notebook. When you wake up, try to remember as much as possible and write down everything before it fades away. In two weeks, your conscious mind will be more "in tune" with your subconscious mind, dreams will be easier to remember and in greater detail, AND while you are dreaming, you will more easily become aware of the fact, and you can change things if you want. If you change it too much, you will likely wake up, but that's no big deal. They can also revert to regular dreaming easily, because if you are not actively controling things, you tend to forget in the dream that you are dreaming.
More music, fewer hits
http://entrainer.sourceforge.net
Looks like the next release will have support for the OCZ NIA. Interesting stuff...
A direct neural interface to post on Twitter has been created by Adam Wilson of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
"We originally hooked it to the brain," said Wilson, "but only a very limited selection of messages came out, that appeared to be coming from somewhere else. So we've just gone directly to the penis without the middleman."
Male humans suffer from having functional bodies trapped with almost completely paralysed minds. The penis is an organ used by male humans primarily for thinking and making important decisions. It is also used as an outlet for unwanted poisonous bodily excreta, such as sperm.
The messages — or "twats" — cover the full gamut of human experience and emotion in 140 characters, from "ANOTHER PINT WHAT AN EXCELLENT IDEA" to "DYING FOR A SLASH" to "GDAY LUV NICE TITS" to "WOOHOO GOT A GOER HERE" to "WOKE UP DEAD PIG SHAT IN SKULL OH DEAR GOD WTF IS THAT MUST CHEW ARM OFF."
"The next stage is a feedback loop for at-replies," said Wilson. "We're hoping to create the dream of every Internet user: a response system that will send five hundred volts through someone's pants when they say something unbelievably stupid."
http://rocknerd.co.uk
I put $10 on the Porn Industry advancing uses faster than anybody else.
Any takers?
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
This is the third release of a "brain-controlled game" type setup I've seen, all involving putting a sensor on the forehead.
Mid 1980s. Atari planned to release a whole series of sensors (temperature, voltage, etc.) and a head-band sensor thingy, with software to go with it. The plan was to go in through the joystick port, which each had a voltage sensor (0 to 5 volts would read as 0 through 255). I think Atari hit hard times before they were going to release this, and so didn't.
The other I've seen is from sometime in the early 1990s... my grandparents picked up several at some flea market. The company that developed this one basically wrote demo games (DOS only) for it right about when Win95 came out. And then didn't port any API for Windows. I can't remember what it's called but last I saw some company (not the original one) STILL had a stock of these they were trying to sell.
...but honestly not that much more. If this is mythical, if this is a transcendence threshold for mind over matter, surely everything we already have by means of EEG was more than this since it was discovered.
Remember that Asimo that Honda could move by thought? Remember HAL, which could detect the firing of nerves that take care of moving your arms and legs? Using a cheap version of the tech (and by the price tag it seems the sensors used in HAL aren't that costly) to power a toy won't be impressive until such a point where it doesn't require electricity to operate.
A toy that is controlled directly by your brain? Has been around for thousands if not millions of years, and it should be particularly well-known to young, male readers of Slashdot, I suspect. The ultimate in wearable technology, with variable size and fits comfortably into either hand.
That way project management can finally tell who's concentrating and how hard, just by looking at how high the ping-pong balls are floating.
Avionics are electronics relating to flight, maybe we can call mind/machine interface psionics. Not to be confused with D&D psionics which is a misnomer for psychogenics.
It's that or Robotechnology/protoculture.
Utilizing the synergization of benchmark e-solutions to pre-workaround action items!
Don't forget the Neural Impulse Actuator from OCZ.
left hand, meet right hand!