TimmyHBrain Power: Computer Games go Mental
June 20th 2008 06:17
The Wii innovation of a few years back was the first movement away from the regular joystick controlled gaming consoles. But for those of you still using a mouse, keyboard, joystick or motion sensor, it may be time to try brain power.
A new headset system made by Emotiv Systems in San Francisco lets players think not click. “When a giant boulder blocks the path in a game you are playing, you can levitate it, not by something as crude as a keystroke, but just by concentrating on raising it,” said Tan Le, Emotiv’s president.
The headset can capture electrical signals when you concentrate; then the computer processes these signals and pairs them with a screen action. The headset itself is a technological cousin of the brain-computer interfaces used by monkeys who manipulate prosthetic arms with thoughts. The monkey’s thoughts are translated into “machine language” and then used to move an arm. In some cases these interfaces can use sensors that are implanted directly onto the brain.
Emotiv plans to have its wireless EPOC headset ($US 299) on sale in time before Christmas. The 16 sensors which lightly touch the ehad pick up electrical signals from the scalp’s surface and converts them to actions using electroencephalography (EEG).
Geoffrey Mackellar, Emotiv’s research and development manager says “You clear the mind…then do 30 to 40 seconds of training, by concentrating, for instance, on visualizing a block lifting from the earth. On the first or second attempt, you can lift it at will.”
Other, harder challenges follow. In constant feedback, the machine learns more about how users think just as users grow more skilful at concentrating.”
The system can also detect some of the player’s facial expressions and emotional responses: smiles, frowns or wrinkles. If for examples during the fantasy battle within the training game a players becomes bored, the computer will insert dragons or change the music.
The Emotiv headset is a version of the EEG cap used for decades to record brain electrical activity, said Nathan Fox, a professor of human development at the University of Maryland
“There can be as many as 256 electrodes at one time in a cap. The placement corresponds in some rough approximation to brain areas that are underneath the scalp,” he said.
The Emotiv headset taps the power of the mind as well as using feedback from muscles Dr. Mackellar says, “We definitely read brain waves — no doubt about it — but we also read other things. In classical EEG, movements of the face and muscles are regarded as noise. But we use some of it, rather than discard it.”
Anton Nijholt, a professor of computer science at the University of Twente says the technology is not useful for everyone, “Not all people are able to display the mental activity necessary to move an object on a screen. Some people may not be able to imagine movement in a way that EEG can detect.”
A new headset system made by Emotiv Systems in San Francisco lets players think not click. “When a giant boulder blocks the path in a game you are playing, you can levitate it, not by something as crude as a keystroke, but just by concentrating on raising it,” said Tan Le, Emotiv’s president.
The headset can capture electrical signals when you concentrate; then the computer processes these signals and pairs them with a screen action. The headset itself is a technological cousin of the brain-computer interfaces used by monkeys who manipulate prosthetic arms with thoughts. The monkey’s thoughts are translated into “machine language” and then used to move an arm. In some cases these interfaces can use sensors that are implanted directly onto the brain.
Emotiv plans to have its wireless EPOC headset ($US 299) on sale in time before Christmas. The 16 sensors which lightly touch the ehad pick up electrical signals from the scalp’s surface and converts them to actions using electroencephalography (EEG).
Geoffrey Mackellar, Emotiv’s research and development manager says “You clear the mind…then do 30 to 40 seconds of training, by concentrating, for instance, on visualizing a block lifting from the earth. On the first or second attempt, you can lift it at will.”
Other, harder challenges follow. In constant feedback, the machine learns more about how users think just as users grow more skilful at concentrating.”
The system can also detect some of the player’s facial expressions and emotional responses: smiles, frowns or wrinkles. If for examples during the fantasy battle within the training game a players becomes bored, the computer will insert dragons or change the music.
The Emotiv headset is a version of the EEG cap used for decades to record brain electrical activity, said Nathan Fox, a professor of human development at the University of Maryland
“There can be as many as 256 electrodes at one time in a cap. The placement corresponds in some rough approximation to brain areas that are underneath the scalp,” he said.
The Emotiv headset taps the power of the mind as well as using feedback from muscles Dr. Mackellar says, “We definitely read brain waves — no doubt about it — but we also read other things. In classical EEG, movements of the face and muscles are regarded as noise. But we use some of it, rather than discard it.”
Anton Nijholt, a professor of computer science at the University of Twente says the technology is not useful for everyone, “Not all people are able to display the mental activity necessary to move an object on a screen. Some people may not be able to imagine movement in a way that EEG can detect.”
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