The old saying "why work harder when you can work smarter" might have be truer than you think. In the U.S., Europe, and Asia researchers have been working on a system called Brain Computing Interface or BCI. This new technology will allow a user to wear a headset with small Electroencephalograms (EEGs) attached that will touch your scalp and
analyze your brain activity. This electrical impulses will then be interpreted into different actions that would take place on a computer or potentially other devices such as robotic limbs. Just like voice recognition technology, the BCI would need to be trained for each individual person. On the forefront of this technology is the company Emotiv Systems Inc. Their technology called
EPOC is capable of performing eight specific actions. These actions are trained by moving a cube. The actions are pushing and pulling the cube, moving it up/down and left/right, and rotating the cube clockwise or counter-clockwise. EPOC is based on three types of recognition, Expressiv, Affectiv, and Cognitiv (spelled how Emotiv spells them). Expressiv recognizes your facial expressions and movements that can be displayed through an online avatar, so if you smile the avatar smiles, if you blink the avatar blinks, and so on. Affectiv is about understanding your emotions and transferring those through to your games and music such as the color of the sky changing in a game your playing based on whether your happy, sad, or frustrated. Cognitiv is about controlling objects on a screen by just thinking about how you want to control the object. Cognitiv is what recognizes the eight actions previously mentioned. EPOC will have open sourced API to allow developers to create new programs and application for it, and everything will be linked through a website. Also, based on the Affectiv readings your music and pictures will rearrange and organize themselves based on your feeling. So if you are feeling happy, your pictures will reflect this in the order that you view them, or your music will play happy songs. EPOC will also come with a typing program that will allow a user to type by thinking about it and will allow users to play games by simply thinking of the key presses required to play the game. Consumer versions of this software are supposed to be out before Christmas and will sell for around $300.
Now as much as it sounds like I gave a sales pitch for one of, if not the coolest technology man has ever created, BCI has some profound uses for disabled people. Prosthetic limbs have been out for many years. Even limbs which had some movement by the user moving certain muscles have been out for some time. Now, however, this limbs could one day have full range of movement and ability since the user might be able to control his or her limb as if it were never lost or damaged. BCI has already been used to control some robotic limbs, and some researchers have had success with technology similar to BCI to allow people to control a robotic limb. Now even more hope exists for full prosthetic control. BCI could allow quadriplegics the ability to work a computer or one day any device linked to the BCI. Some research also shows that this technology could allow patients in a
coma to communicate.
I see this technology as having practically unlimited uses. I could imagine one day walking up to my house and thinking about opening the door and wala the door opens. Then you go about everything else by thinking about doing them such as turning on the light and television and then changing the channel. This technology could revolutionize the way we use computers, how we play video games, how we communicate, and how prosthetic limbs are controlled. I strongly implore everyone to check out
this site about Emotiv's EPOC technology.
Here is one short clip about it but please check out others:
EPOC is very impressive technology. Why is it so cheap when it's just coming out? Has the government been using it for a while and it is just now becoming available to the public? For now the Emotiv headset just controls an avatar in a computer game and the corresponding music and background colors. The headset displays our emotions and makes the avatar do what we think for it to do. Could this someday be used outside of a computer? Lift an object in the outside world with just your mind? But for now the EPOC has to be electronically, but wirelessly, connected to a computer. So in order for a human to lift a rock, their headset would have to be electronically connected that rock. Since everything would be controlled by our minds, we would have to take extra care to not let our arms and legs atrophy and lose that muscle. Having these headsets would teach people mental discipline and control. People would have to control their minds and focus on one thought at a time. If the EmoKey allows the headset to connect to any PC game, then does it have all the connection data stored inside it or does it just write a new program into the game that lets it control the avatar and other settings? I've never really understood computer interfaces work. I would explain a little bit more about how the headset would control the prosthetics, or if a headset would even be needed.
ReplyDeleteLet me start by saying that the headset is not the real beauty of this technology. The headset is simply an EEG reading device. The true amazing factor is the program itself which can interpret the EEG's into actions. As far as I know the military does not have this technology, but the deal with the military is that many times they have technology that they never release to the public. An example of this is some of the U.S. astronomical telescopes. The military had the technology for some of these telescopes that can observe in frequencies such as radio or infrared, but the astronomical community basically had to reinvent this technology for more public use.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't originally going to delve too much into EPOC's computer/gaming uses but since the interest arose, why not? So I don't fully understand the program but I'm slowly reading more about it on forums, and I've also downloaded a free version of the software that has a program that can create simulations as if someone was wearing the headset. I have to say just from spending 30 minutes so far playing with it, the technology is very cool. As for typing capability, I don't know if you can think of a key and it will type it or not. If a program hasn't been made by Emotiv yet to do this, then I am sure they will make one, and, since EPOC is open sourced, independent developers can make their own typing programs. I have looked into one so far, but it doesn't seem to be fully functional. I say that I think they will have some kind of typing program because in the or one of the videos,Tan Le (the woman in charge), says that if you were playing a game you could have certain spells or skills that you could think about and they would happen. I believe she said this is done by mapping them to certain keyboard keys, so I would assume that you would then think of the key. I still cannot say that for sure though. However, EmoKey is a program that you can setup which will type certain phrases or words that you want it too based on how you react or feel. Such as if you are sending IMs to a friend and they say something that makes you laugh, you could have EmoKey setup so that if you laugh it will automatically reply with an "lol" or whatever you want it to. You could even have it type something every time you blinked. So this leads into having EmoKey type a key which is linked to a game to make certain things happen in the game based on your emotions or reactions. Not the most effective method that could be created in my opinion, but it is a possibility. Also, EPOC does not write a program or have data stored for every game, basically it would work the same as your keyboard works. It would send information to the game just as any other user input device would.
Technically the headset would not have to be worn for someone to control a prosthetic limb. Instead a small chip could be inserted into the brain to read the signals. However, the headset reads all of the brains signals and a chip would most likely only read a few. So, I am not sure how this would be compensated, or if all the readings are even needed. Besides that the person would just think about what they wanted the limb to do, and it would do it.
Last but not least, I do not believe the headset can be used like some telekinetic device. If you wanted to control something using this technology, then that technology would have to be linked to this software somehow. Also I don't think we will ever be lifting rocks unless these rocks are made electronic which kind of eliminates them being rocks. As for ever moving stuff with our mind, I don't really think that's possible. If we somehow want to levitate things or communicate telepathically, then science would have to create something that could do that. Maybe something like magnetic fields could be used kind of like magnetic train systems that actually hover above the ground.
Here is a link describing in more detail how BCIs work: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/brain-computer-interface1.htm
ReplyDeleteI don't want to get too much into it, since that would be an entirely different part of this subject and not really the aspect that I am focusing on.
This technology sounds very interesting and promising to the medical technology world. Like Seven, I also wondered how it could be sold so cheap, especially since it would have to be trained for the individual using the product. While you do talk about how this technology could help people that use prosthetics, I think you should focus on that and other medical relevance a little more to enhance your argument.
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