The Force Becomes Reality Using an EEG Brainwave Reader

Alright, its about time I actually posted up something about one of the coolest things happening in the world today: Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI).

Basically, (if you didn't click the wikilink) a BCI is simply a way for a human to communicate with a computer using their brain instead of a mouse or a keyboard.  While this idea has been around for decades, it really has started to take off commercially and is completly non-intrusive (so they're not plugging you into the matrix).  There even seem to be a ton of conferences on BCI all over the world.

One of the leading companies on the market is called Emotiv. Emotiv is a company that has created a headset that you can wear that connects wirelessly to a laptop and allows one to send the computer commands simply by thinking them.

To see a demo check out Tan Le's TEDtalk:



It only takes one 8 second trial to train the system to react to a certain brainwave pattern.  While its INSANELY complicated when it comes to the algorithms, and those I haven't been able to find yet (let me know if you can).  What is fairly easy to understand is that the technology uses P300 event-related potnetials that are picked up on the scalp.
In English: when your brain thinks and the neurons fire the machine picks up the sparks.

While Emotiv is probably the most talked about technology on the market, they aren't alone.

A new Silicon Valley startup called NeuroSky is also producing a similar product but rather than having 14 different pickups on the headset, they've got one, right on that third-eye region of the forehead (where you would apply that really annoying "Head-On"... Directly to the forehead).  The NeuroSky picture is first, the Emotiv follows later.

NeuroSky seems to be taking a bit more of a consumer approach oriented towards children and non-computer dorks.  Their headset has a set of headphones on it:

While It reamains to be seen which one of these headsets is more appropriate, it seems that the NeuroSky headset is taking the lead for now, possibly because its development package is free.
However, Emotiv shouldn't be discounted, their popularity is awesome and their development package (with developers headset) is less than $1,000!

And this interview, with NeuroSky's CEO Stanley Yang does make it sound like a practial venture that might be here to stay.



Either way, its a great battle to be watched.  NeuroSky in the Silicon Valley corner and Emotiv in MIT Mindlab's.

Either way, I'm getting one. Keep and eye out for a followup post.