A neuro-headset which interprets the interaction of neurons in the brain will go on sale later this year. It picks up electrical activity from the brain and sends wireless signals to a computer, said US/Australian firm Emotiv. It allows the user to manipulate a game or virtual environment naturally and intuitively.
The brain is made up of about 100 billion nerve cells, or neurons, which emit an electrical impulse when interacting. The headset implements a technology known as non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG) to read the neural activity. Emotiv is a neuro-engineering company and they have created a brain computer interface that reads electrical impulses in the brain and translates them into commands that a video game can accept and control the game dynamically.
- Sensors respond to the electrical impulses behind different thoughts; enabling a user's brain to influence gameplay directly.
- Conscious thoughts, facial expressions, and non-conscious emotions can all be detected.
- Gyroscope enables a cursor or camera to be controlled by head movements.
- The headset uses wi-fi to connect to a computer.
The use of Electroencephalography in medical practice dates back almost 100 years but it is only since the 1970s that the procedure has been used to explore brain computer interfaces. It can also read emotions of players and translate those to the virtual world. The headset could be used to improve the realism of emotional responses of AI characters in games. For example if you laughed or felt happy after killing a character in a game then your virtual buddy could admonish you for being callous.
The $299 headset has a gyroscope to detect movement and has wireless capabilities to communicate with a USB dongle plugged into a computer. Gamers are able to move objects in the world just by thinking of the action. brain computer interfaces, like the Epoc headset were an important component of the future 3D Internet and the future of virtual communication.
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