Brain2Computer Interface

[HPAVC]

Neat video, imagine if WoW had the same crazy API SL has.

Brain-computer interface for Second Life

Keio University bioengineers have demonstrated the control of a Second Life avatar using a non-invasive brain-computer interface. The news release is in Japanese but the Neurophilosophy blog reports that the device monitors electrical activity in the motoro cortex via external electrodes on the scalp.

[Zseth]

oh god, I can't wait for this shit to be publicly released

[Shogun]

There is no way in hell your average guy could get that to work reliably:

"All a user has to do to control his/her avatar is imagine performing various movements."

And the average guy thinks about what every how often? uh huh:
http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=25665

[Xzin]

I like the progress being made but it is still VERY clunky. The brain is a VERY noisy source and without being able to directly probe individual neurons..... it is going to require some pretty amazing algorithms to function reliably. Plus, the brain is not even anywhere as simple as speech or other input methods. Different brains are well, different. Sure the overall structure is similar but different peoples brains are vastly different when it comes to all sorts of things.

I am not even sure this is even possible to do WELL noninvasively. It probably is but if it is anything like speech recognition..... don't expect to be able to rely upon it more than 95% of the time. And with the current technology.... I would say 10% or less if you watch the video.

All that said, I remain very optimistic about the long term potential of this technology. I just don't expect to be practical for 10 - 15 years.

[Dor]

it would need some kind of lag in gaming too.. id hate to have my first impulse thought to be my move in a lot of diff game situations

[Zseth]

Xzin I completely agree with you, I was talking with some of my coworkers about the interface, and I see public application in 10 years. The funny thing is, the Army has a similar design in place for controling UAV's and the new Unmanned Transport and Defense Vehicles. The conclusion was that User Interface Devices would not respond quick enough in combat, and I don't care how awesome of a gamer you are, if you ever saw an 18 year old kid return accurate fire in a combat situation you would think yourself slow from that point on. Basically its working on an emmersion system so the soldier feels the threat of hostile action, but is allowed to use their greatest asset, the brain, to respond to the threat. The Land Warrior System integrates some of this and more is being added every year, but civilian application is still a ways off. That being said, as soon as they offer it they can cut me and plug me in :P

[Xzin]

Most modern sensors designed for implantation are still clunky. Very poor resolution (a few hundred to low thousands of neurons), possibility of infection.... heck, they are just now flexible - before they were rigid and didn't move. Still not 100% biocomp. Etc.

I would love it if it worked very very well. It just isn't there yet.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

I like the progress being made but it is still VERY clunky. The brain is a VERY noisy source and without being able to directly probe individual neurons..... it is going to require some pretty amazing algorithms to function reliably.

Well stated. I was just thinking about Team Fortress 2 when I read that. How would it handle your "mental queues" with regards to threat/proximity/known abilities/etc. Think about it: when you switch mice or go from mouse to trackball, it takes a fair amount of practice for it to become "muscle memory" such that you just do it and don't waste time thinking about it. And because games are "disconnected" from your normal human bio-enviro-feedback systems (forgive my wordsmithing there; it's very abstract and I'm not an expert), it compounds the problem by orders of magnitude. For that matter, I'm not sure I want a system that will provide realistic feedback direct to the brain, yet. Too many Orwellian lessons when growing up, I suppose. :P

I agree that getting this stuff working properly or even in a state where above-average individuals can use it efficiently enough to obsolesce current input devices is quite a ways out.