[privacy] Mind Control for Videogames

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117322883379028959.html?mod=technology_main_
whats_news
 

Mind Control for Videogames

Emotiv Aims to Link
Characters' Actions
To Users' Thoughts
By DON CLARK
March 7, 2007; Page B5


A start-up company this week is giving the first public demonstration of a
new technology for letting videogame players control actions with their
minds.

Emotiv Systems Inc., a closely held company with offices in San Francisco
and Sydney, Australia, plans to exploit electroencephalography, or EEG
technology, which measures electrical activity of the brain and has long
been used in the medical profession. The company envisions players strapping
on helmets with electrodes that read brain signals, allowing them to issue
simple commands to enhance game play.

Others have discussed similar goals, including start-ups NeuroSky and
CyberLearning Technology LLC, but Emotiv says its approach is the most
versatile. Where other technologies tend to detect mental states such as
concentration or calmness, Emotiv says its technology also can distinguish
between patterns of brain activity that can be designated to correspond to
specific commands.

 [Photo]
<http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/images/MK-AI854B_EMOTI_2007030618301
1.jpg>  
Prototype of brain-signal helmet.       

"Our vision is that the next generation of man-machine communications will
not be limited to just conscious expressions, but nonconscious expressions
also will play a big part," says Nam Do, Emotiv's chief executive officer.

In a demonstration, Emotiv researcher Marco Della Torre donned a prototype
headset and was able to move objects on a computer screen by visualizing
pushing or lifting them -- in one case teaming up with a reporter to pick up
and throw objects in a videogame based on the Harry Potter books.

The technology also projected Mr. Della Torre's smiles, winks or other
facial expressions onto the face of an animated character, while software
registered changes in his level of excitement.

In some cases, there was a noticeable time lag before Mr. Della Torre's
mental commands produced an effect on the screen. Commands were limited to a
predetermined set of actions, such as moving objects a fixed distance up and
down or right and left. Accomplishing those feats requires a user to teach
the company's software, by associating repeated thought patterns with
individual commands.

The technology is more suited to add special extras in games than to replace
conventional controllers for the bulk of the action. "It's not to replace
the joystick," Mr. Do said.

...

_______________________________________________
privacy mailing list
privacy () whitestar linuxbox org
http://www.whitestar.linuxbox.org/mailman/listinfo/privacy