Toyota Demonstrates Brain Control of Wheelchair

An anonymous reader tips us that researchers at Toyota have developed a brain-machine interface system that allows for control of a wheelchair using thought. The system processes brain thought patterns (such as the thought of moving one's left foot) and can turn them into left, right, and forward movements of the wheelchair with a delay as short as one-eighth of a second. That's a big improvement over existing systems, which can take as long as several seconds to analyze and react to the user's thoughts. "The system has an emergency stop that can be activated by the user puffing his cheeks. The BMI adjusts itself over time to the characteristics of each driver's brainwaves. If a person dedicates three hours a day to using the system, the BMI can reach 95% accuracy in a week, researchers said."

Comments

95% accuracy probably not good enough

[syousef]

Don't get me wrong, this is an amazing achievement but clearly it'll need work to be practical. 95% sounds great until you realise that if you're on a footpath with oncoming traffic, or near the top of some stairs, that 5% can be painful or deadly.

I, for one

[grimborg]

welcome our new braincontrolwheelchaired overlords