Cognitive Labs

'Mental typewriter' controlled by thought alone
Fascinating report: (NewScientist) A computer controlled by the power of thought alone has been demonstrated at CEBIT in Germany. As we have speculated here, rapid advances in cybernetics are now ocurring, which will eventually change how consumers interface with computers, while the substructure of how people inter-relate online has continued to evolve quickly. Imagine reaction time that is constrained only by the power and speed of thought without any mechanical components. It would seem we are headed towards an always-connected global brain. With complete integration of components, what is the difference between telepathy and let's say, a WiFi/Bluetooth connection between your computer and your brain, with the computer/device acting as a filter and transceiver?

The device could provide a way for paralysed patients to operate computers, or for amputees to operate electronically controlled artificial limbs. But it also has non-medical applications, such as in the computer games and entertainment industries.

The Berlin Brain-Computer Interface (BBCI) – dubbed the "mental typewriter" – was created by researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute in Berlin and Charité, the medical school of Berlin Humboldt University in Germany. It was shown off at the CeBit electronics fair in Hanover, Germany.

The machine makes it possible to type messages onto a computer screen by mentally controlling the movement of a cursor. A user must wear a cap containing electrodes that measure electrical activity inside the brain, known as an electroencephalogram (EEG) signal, and imagine moving their left or right arm in order to manoeuvre the cursor around.

"It's a very strange sensation," says Gabriel Curio at Charité. "And you can understand from the crowds watching that the potential is huge."

Learning algorithms
Curio says users can operate the device just 20 minutes after going through 150 cursor moves in their minds. This is because the device rapidly learns to recognise activity in the area of a person's motor cortex, the area of the brain associated with movement. "The trick is the machine-learning algorithms developed at the Fraunhofer Institute," Curio says.

John Chapin, an expert in using implanted electrodes to control computers, agrees EEG sensing technology is advancing rapidly. "There's been a lot of progress on the non-invasive side in recent years," he said.

The German researchers hope to develop a commercial version of the device as an aid for paralysed patients and amputees.

Chapin adds that brain-computer interfaces could have a range of uses beyond the medical. "Signals from the brain give you a fraction of a second advantage," he says. The device could make a novel game controller and be used in other ways. The researchers have even begun testing the machine as a driving aid, as it can sense a sudden reaction and control a vehicle's brakes before even the driver can.

The next stage is to develop a cap that does not have to be attached directly to the scalp. This should make the device easier to use and cause less skin irritation for the wearer.

Labels: AI, CEBIT, cognitive, cognitive_labs, consciousness, mental, mental_typewriter_and_game_controller, typewriter

Oh, why not have some more fun while on the cognitive treadmill. Forbes recently put out their annual 'midas list' and we have put out the VC Reaction Time Game. Which is more creative? you be the judge.

It's time for a little humor...you'll see if you play this game.

Here is the history of PONG - FYI

What was the first video game?

Answer is here

Test your memory here

Talent, techniques, advanced tools key to future engineering success

Social Technologies at the Forefront

"In anticipating the future, we must recognize that civilization is on the brink of a new industrial world order," IEEE Fellow Dr. Joseph Bordogna said during his keynote address at the IEEE-USA Leadership Workshop in St. Louis. "Success will not be garnered by those who simply make commodities faster and cheaper than the competition.

They will be those who develop talent, techniques and tools so advanced that competitive capability can be continually robust." Bordogna is a former deputy director (1999-2005) and chief operating officer of the National Science Foundation, and served as IEEE president in 1998. His address, "Round, Flat or Spiky, the World Turns on an Axis," provided his vision on how engineers can contribute to future innovation in a world undergoing swift and constant technological transformation.

"Engineers will have to be effective collaborators, innovators, risk takers, and communicators, working across shifting boundaries, and embracing diversity," Bordogna said. "They will need to know the human and social dimensions of technology. Our social and economic progress depends upon it. All of you carry the excitement and the responsibility to make it happen."

Bordogna, now the Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, added that "creative transformation" -- the process of converting energy to momentum -- is the flip side of "creative destruction":

"That process -- energy to momentum -- which engineers certainly embrace, speaks directly to the excitement and inspiration of integrative 21st century science and engineering innovation at the frontier. Propelled by advances in genomics, materials, computer-communications, and advances in cognition, mathematics and social science, our profession is on the verge of new, exhilarating frontiers."

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