Cognitive Labs

Concept of Firefox, the brain-controlled Russian fighter, from a 1977 novel


Beyond controlling a computer with your thoughts alone, and creating a helmet for diversional game-play, the U.S. army is funding a neuroscience project designed to let a commander "think" orders to subordinates.

Rather than pure telepathy, commands will have to be audibly rendered via a speaker or headset, call it 1/2 the way to completely integrated telepathy.

The idea is to speed up the command process and improve accuracy, sounding like the selling pitch for going to EDI back in the 1990's.

Time web site

Labels: army, cognitive, emotiv, lifeboat, telepathy

Designers at CEBIT got much digital ink when they announced this mental typewriter and game controller which let anyone control their computer with their brain alone. Telepathy, stage one.

Just 23 short months later, Emotiv, a San Francisco based company, has improved on the prototype with an actual beta consumer device - letting you control the existence or dissolution of an orange box on your computer's screen - with just your thoughts.



As you can see this is closer to the proverbvial iBrain: no wires, electrodes or swim cap - just pure design, closer to headphones or a svelte racing bicycle helmet.
The entrepreneurs aim to have a product in stores in time for Christmas 2008.





The pace of change is accelerating...

Labels: emotiv, gamer, gdc, mental_typewriter_and_game_controller