While the idea itself is entirely unique, the process of constructing the couch sounds almost automated. After hooking someone into an EEG, software converts the brainwave readings into a 3D map. This map is fed into a CNC machine that carves the product itself out of foam.

Done and done.

As of now, the work leans toward proof-of-concept art. But it's not hard to imagine walking into IKEA, thinking happy thoughts about homemade cookies and walking out with a kitchen table that, while not so practical, is inherently chock full of emotional warmth and caloric euphoria. [yatzer and unfold via medgadget]

The chair displays a realtime 3D HUD while the user concentrates on basic functions, such as rotating the chair left or right. That information is read by the chair via EEG waves (the electricity running along your scalp as a byproduct of your brain working). It's the same idea we've seen in recent game controllers, but applied to a more practical use.

The chair also features laser sensors, allowing it to override a circumstance in which a misreading could drive the user into a wall or an innocent bystander.

As I said, we're seeing this technology pop up in a few different places...which seems to imply that researchers, in general, are on to something. [University of Zaragoza via Times Online via medgadget via ubergizmo]

Jesting aside, the work of the Neural Interfaces Technology Research & Optimization Lab at the University of Wisconsin is pretty sweet—especially if you've seen The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and have had nightmares like I have of being "locked in" due to a brain injury of some kind. But where Jean-Dominique Bauby had to blink out his incredible novel from his hospital bed, this EEG-controlled interface, examples of which have existed for some time, would make things considerably easier to write your locked-in masterwork.

Something about pairing an EEG interface with Twitter though, bypassing every possible failsafe that might prevent you from oversharing your lunch with the world, makes a lot of sense. [NITRO Lab Blog]

Apparently, the people at Japan's Honda Research Institute had the same idea, because they've now partnered with ATR and Shimadzu Corp. to come up with a way to use your brain as a robot remote control.

Called BMI (Brain Machine Interface – not the acronym that tells you you're fat), the tech uses electroencephalography, which measures slight electrical currents, and near-infrared spectroscopy, which looks at brain blood flow. Putting the two together gives you up to 90% accurate robot control without the use of physical implants.

Unfortunately, you still have to strap yourself to this giant chair and ridiculous-looking cap that kind of makes you resemble Dark Helmet from Spaceballs. But one day, when your mobile minions appear suddenly in the horizon, wordlessly laying waste to your enemies with nary a peep from you... oh, how glorious a time it shall be. [Akihabara News]

This Force Trainer, priced at $90-$100, hooks up to your head via wireless headset and transmits your reading to the toy, which blows air and moves the ball up the chute. Like Brain Training for the DS, you level up gradually depending on your skill. Unlike Brain Training, when you succeed, a white ball jumps clumsily. [USA Today via Geekologie]

Based on electroencephalography technology (or EEG to us laymen), a properly functioning Epoc isn't out of the realm of possibility. But after a series of failed press appearances, starting just after the announcement and culminating in a glitchy gaming failure which I witnessed firsthand at the Intel Developer Forum, the product just doesn't look like it's ready.

BigDownload spoke to a PR rep for the company, who said that the product is being held back until it "work[s] as planned", which translates to a release "sometime in 2009". There's obviously plenty of enthusiasm for stuff like this, but little startups like this can only hold on for so long without bringing a product to market. The price, as far as we know, is still set at $299. [BigDownload—Thanks, John]

The story tells of a woman who lived in the town of Pune, engaged to Man A. One day, she up and runs off to Delhi with Man B. She returns to Pune, meets Man A at a McDonald's, and later on, he dies. Of arsenic poisoning.

When the woman was brought in accused of murdering Man A, she denied the allegation. When investigators hooked her up to an EEG and read aloud facts of the crime, however, software interpreting the electrical impulses in her brain told a different story. Says the NYT: "The relevant nooks of her brain where memories are thought to be stored buzzed when the crime was recounted."

Unlike in previous cases, there was little or no corroborative evidence here, but the judge sentenced the woman to life in prison anyway, and went on to write a 9-page lovesong to this particular Brain Electrical Oscillations Signature test, even though it has yet to be "validated by any independent study and reported in a respected scientific journal." (Peer review, who needs it?)

The US is leading this burgeoning field of study, but the only time it's used in court is when the accused pays to have a study performed as evidence of innocence. The New Yorker ran an amazing expose on this shady business a year ago, and it's still well worth the read.

What happens in an Indian courtroom doesn't set precedent in the US, but this technology certainly isn't going to go away, so it's important either to rule it out as faux science, or tighten up the applied methodology quickly, so that we can all get on to the business of reading each others' minds in court. Course then we'd really start killing each other. [New York Times]

The technology is described as an example of “neuromorphic engineering”—hardware and software that tries to emulate human intelligence. Basically, the binoculars point out objects that our brains might have noticed, but not fully processed. The subconscious can detect multiple things at once, but the conscious mind can only focus on one thing at a time. By collecting data using human eyes and then passing the data back to the brain, the binoculars more or less add a second processing loop.

One possible problem: How to fine-tune it so that the binoculars don't just pick up on useless, distracting noise. Brains look for patterns in everything, and will sometimes find them even where they don't exist (i.e. Astrology). What if for every rocket launcher it did notice before us, it also pointed out how one specific mountain range in the distance looks like your mother-in-law's face? [Slashdot via Gizmag]