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."

Comments

I've got two toys I can control with my mind

[sokoban]

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.

Re:I've got two toys I can control with my mind

[onion2k]

Not having played with your penis I can't really state this as a fact, but I don't think I'd enjoy it very much.

Re:I've got two toys I can control with my mind

[Hurricane78]

But you still need to buy new hardware, to be able to play. Like a pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass. *ducks* ^^

Hey McFly!

[AKAImBatman]

You mean you have to use your hands? That's a baby's toy!

I call prior art.

[Anonymous Coward]

I've convinced plenty of stoned chicks that they can move my penis with their minds.

Total Body Replacement?

[Drakkenmensch]

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!

Re:Total Body Replacement?

[ShadowRangerRIT]

So there's a training curve. You think people wouldn't spend a little time teaching the machine to read them so they could avoid manual labor? I know it didn't work so well with early speech recognition, but then, the payoff for finishing the training was less impressive.

As TFA notes, they've already had some success with using more targeted "mind reading" implants to enable full body paralysis patients to control wheelchairs, check e-mail, turn lights on and off, etc. By approaching this from two angles, one where they get full function, but are highly invasive, and another with limited function, but non-invasive, they may end up finding a happy medium.

Modern medicine (in the sense of heavily evidence based trials) has been moving at the same speed as computing. Don't write off this technology just because the initial steps are so small. The home PC was arguably introduced with Pong, this isn't so different.

Re:Total Body Replacement?

[Chrutil]

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.

Bright future? Oh yeah?
and who the hell would want a monkey to control their arms?

faux Jedi powers are right around the corner!

[JudgeFurious]

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?

Re:faux Jedi powers are right around the corner!

[ShadowRangerRIT]

Apparently they perform more or less efficiently depending on how well you are able to "concentrate". TFA notes that lawyers and others in jobs that require a lot of multitasking can't control the ball nearly as well. Single minded types, (e.g. copy editors and IT) tend to do it rather well. I imagine ADHD is a problem for it.

On the other hand, there is some evidence that behavioral therapy can mitigate ADHD symptoms. Perhaps this "toy" could be therapeutic for users; by incentivizing concentration and providing real time feedback, it might be a form of self-therapy.

Totally unexpected side effects

[Hojima]

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.

Re:Totally unexpected side effects

[PopeRatzo]

I agree with Hojima, but for different reasons. Much cooler than any toy you can "control with your brain" are the games you can play with your brain itself. I'm a little too old for entheogens, but meditation can lead to some real fun and games, not to mention lower blood pressure and fewer stress related illnesses. Years ago, when I was recovering from an injury, I had a doctor recommend one of those "Sound and Light Machines", and that has led to a couople of decades of exploration of consciousness, lucid dreaming and (again) relaxation and stress reduction. If you want to experience the ultimate FPS or role-playing game, just try some lucid dreaming. I'm now on my third sound and light machine, a Procyon, and I find it really useful and fun. I hate to fly (in airplanes, although flying in a lucid dream is a blast), so now I put on the goggles and earphones hooked to my Procyon before take off, and even the longest, most tedious flight seems to, well, fly by.

Finally, learning is the best "mind game" of all. Learn to play some Bach on the piano, or to strum a ukulele or other instrument. Get a set of bongo drums and learn about the universe of rhythm.

I understand that this kind of learning creates other positive changes in the brain that can have a positive impact on lots of areas in your life. Plus, chicks dig musicians.

I wouldn't worry too much about getting some "licensed practioner" to sign off on a little personal brain research. Far as I can tell, people have been doing such things since at least Plato. As long as you have some other people in your life who can pull your coat if you start to get a little whacky, you'll be OK.

Re:Totally unexpected side effects

[Jurily]

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.

Nah. You can't break your brain just by thinking. The brain can and will adapt, unless you have serious problems. Have you ever been daydreaming on the highway, and suddenly you realize you don't know what happened in the last five miles? Yet you didn't crash, because your brain can drive even if you don't pay attention. And it's a complex task, too. Just remember what it felt like when you started out.

The problem with this is that it lacks the act of moving one of your bodyparts to trigger the change, which is what you've been doing your whole life, and probably can control much better than this thing can read your mind. Just imagine what it would be like having to concentrate on the gas pedal to keep going.

Nintendo

[firegarden7]

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.

Re:Nintendo

[russotto]

Imagine if you also have to do calculus problems in your head to fire...

The cheat code replaces the function you have to integrate with e^x.

Emotiv Epoc

[jac515]

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.

Re:The Clit

[MyLongNickName]

And wallet.... you forgot the wallet.

lucid dreaming

[OglinTatas]

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.