New game gizmo uses mind control
Emotiv CEO and co-founder Nam Do contemplate the EPOC headset.
Photo: Albert Chau
New game gizmo uses mind control
Asher Moses
May 7, 2008 - 2:07PM
An Australian company is gearing up to release a computer headset that allows people to control video games using only the power of their minds.
Emotiv Systems, founded by four Australian scientists in 2003, will release the $US299 ($315) EPOC headset on the US market this year. Australians will be able to order it online.
Featuring 14 sensors that measure electrical impulses from the brain, the headset - which plugs into the PC’s USB port - will enable games to register facial expressions, emotions and even cognitive thoughts, allowing players to perform in-game actions just by visualising them.
The headset works in a similar way to voice recognition, in that it must first be calibrated using Emotiv’s software to recognise patterns in the user’s electrical brain impulses, which are used to perform 30 preset actions.
When the player performs those same thoughts in the game the software knows to associate them with the correct action, such as rotate object or push object.
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