Mind-controlled Devices - Beyond the Mouse

Mind-controlled devices may be next, say experts at CES
By Andy Vuong
The Denver Post
Posted: 01/07/2011 01:00:00 AM MSTUpdated: 01/07/2011 09:00:32 AM MST


Attendees at the International Consumer Electronics Show on Thursday are overshadowed by TV manufacturer LG's display of HDTV screens. LG also showed off touch-capable plasma TVs, with the technology essentially turning a 60-inch set into a supersized iPad. (Julie Jacobson, The Associated Press)Related
Jan 7:
Tons of tablets on tableLAS VEGAS — While technology companies are introducing tablet computers and Internet- connected TVs by the dozen at the International Consumer Electronics Show, perhaps more intriguing are views from leading manufacturers about emerging technologies.

Among them are motion-based, wirelessly charged and mind-controlled computers, TVs and other consumer electronics.

"I believe in mind control," Xavier Lauwaert, worldwide marketing manager for Hewlett-Packard, said Thursday during a panel discussion about the future of user interfaces.

Such technology would be like voice control, only a user would simply need to think of what he wanted a device to do, rather than having to say anything.

See full article:
www.denverpost.com...


Also please review the article:

Beyond the Mouse: 5 Ways We’ll Interface With Future Computers By Adam Hadhazy, TechNewsDaily Staff Writer 14 March 2010 12:12 PM ET

Since the dawn of personal computing, the mouse has served as the link between human and machine. As computers have become ever more powerful and portable, this basic interface of point-and-click has remained tried, true and little changed.

But now, new ideas and products are offering revolutionary ways for people to interact with their computers. In the tradition of squeezing the most out of machines in the least amount of time, the mouse and even the keyboard might someday come to be relics of a slower, bygone era.

Here are five emerging technologies likely to shake up how we get computers to follow our commands.

See link for full article:
www.technewsdaily.com...

Also, see this Hewlett Package article.
neurogadget.com...
Dang , I think that one day we are going to be some VERY intelligent walking cyborgs if there are not already some and we not know it.

Is this not wild? It seems like a whole lot of our sci fi make believe fantasies are becoming REAL! This is some more heavy stuff, imo!

If you care to comment, please do! Thanks in advance.

"I believe in mind control," Xavier

hahahahaha

sorry... couldnt let that one just slide by

reply to post by deanGI5


under mind control eh? lol

There is another thread here on ATS that took off that is related:

Biocompatible Electronics has arrived . You can view it here:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Brain-computer interfaces

Think it, and the computer will do it. This ultimate melding of mind-and-machine is closer than you might suppose, yet will have to overcome some potential show-stoppers before ever becoming fast enough or commonplace.

Known as a brain-computer interface (BCI), the method translates the electrical impulses of neurons to actions on a computer screen or mechanical device.

As with voice recognition, BCIs have arisen to help those with injuries or debilitating ailments, such as brain stem strokes or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, often called Lou Gehrig's disease. Over the past decade, BCIs have enabled human patients who cannot move their bodies to move a cursor on a monitor.

A long-recognized problem in developing commercial BCIs for healthy people is that getting a strong, clear enough signal from the brain requires implanting electrodes that are prone to infection, bodily rejection and forming of scar tissue.

However, other existing, non-invasive brain scan technologies such as electroencephalography (EEG) – worn shower-cap style with electrodes on the scalp – have made some strides recently.

At the CeBIT tradeshow in Germany earlier this month, Guger Technologies showed off the Intendix device, which the company calls the “world’s first BCI speller.” Letters and numbers on a virtual keyboard flash on the monitor, and when the one you want lights up, Intendix registers a slight spike in brain activity and presto, the character is selected.

The company says Intendix will let injured or ill people communicate, and that learning how to use the Intendix interface takes mere minutes to produce a character rate of five to 10 per minute. This is clearly too slow for everyday use by healthy people, and another disadvantage is that the device cost $12,000.

Down the road, continuing research into "neural prosthetics" – devices connected to people's brains and operated by brain waves – may pave the way for possible desktop adoption.

Whatever the future might hold for human-computer interfaces, it seems that the mouse's days as a humble, steady workhorse appear just as numbered as those of the horse-and-buggy of yesteryear

See link for full article:
www.technewsdaily.com...

Christian Wentz from MIT has designed a hat that wouldn’t look out of place at a horse race or a royal wedding. It consists of two circuit boards and an antenna, and it’s being modelled by a mouse. Wentz has wired the hat directly to the mouse’s brain and he can use it to control the animal’s behaviour with flashes of light. And most importantly, he can do it from afar.

The wireless helmet is the latest innovation in the exciting field of optogenetics, where scientists can use light to control the behaviour of both cells and entire animals. The typical set up involves loading cells – usually neurons – with a light-sensitive gatekeeper protein. When the protein sees the light, it opens up and allows ions to enter the neuron, making it fire.

By introducing the proteins into the right spot, scientists can switch on specific parts of the brain, or even individual neurons. They can turn on aggressive or sexual behaviour or make animals walk in circles. The technique promises to revolutionise our understanding of the way the brain works. It could even help to develop treatments for diseases.

But optogenetics has always had a problem – there has to be a way of delivering the light to the altered neurons. Most people do it with optic fibres, tethered to a laser or an LED. But these have obvious drawbacks. You can only work with a few animals at a time because the fibres might tangle and break. You can’t do long-term studies for the same reasons. And you need to handle their animals at the start of each experiment, which could distress them and change their behaviour.

Ideally, there would be some way of remotely turning on the lights at will. Ed Boyden, one of the founders of optogenetics and the leader of this study, says that some groups have tried to create battery-powered devices that emit light from LEDs. But these have generally failed. “The problem is that light sources are quite energy-inefficient,” says Boyden. “LEDSs and lasers dissipate a lot of their energy in heat, so you need quite high currents or power levels in order to get them to go.” This means that you need a large battery, one that typically weighs as much as the mouse itself! “I don’t think that any of these devices have been used in scientific papers in the last 5 years,” says Boyden.

Instead of batteries, Wentz has created an optogenetics hat that runs off wireless power. A nearby transmitter, that isn’t connected to the mouse, creates a magnetic field that is picked up by antennae on the rodent’s helmet. The field induces an electric current, which can power a set of 16 LEDs in the helmet. These provide the necessary light to set off the genetically altered neurons in the mouse’s brain.

See link for full article.
blogs.discovermagazine.com...

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Here's another interesting vid.

Tan Le - Brain Interface for Kids

Tan Le, a Vietnamese-Australian telecommunications entrepreneur, is president and co-founder of Emotiv Systems, a neuro-engineering company that developed a breakthrough interface technology for digital media, taking inputs directly from the brain. Tan Le's vision is to revolutionize human-computer input in the same way the graphic user interface did 20 years ago.
For more information visit: www.tedxkids.be...

About TEDx, x = independently organized event
In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

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This is interesting folks! Here are a couple of vids on Mind Control Device Demonstrations

medicsindex.ning.com...

syntiant.com...