The Game

The object of the game is simple. You must manipulate the vertical movement of the ball using the power of your thoughts. The headband detects the intensity of your brainwaves—the harder your concentrate, the higher the fan in the unit will elevate the ball. Clearing your mind makes the ball descend. Horizontal movement is controlled by a knob on the base. There are five game modes: Freestyle, Mental Marathon, Danger Zone, Chase the Lights and Thoughtshot. Each challenge provides a different test of your ability to guide the ball through a series of customizable obstacles around the track.

The Verdict

It works (to a degree). Granted, it takes a little practice to master but, clearly, the Mindflex game does read and respond to your brainwaves/concentration level. I was able to alter the fan speed to raise and lower the tiny foam ball at will, although there were times when the accuracy or response time was less than stellar. Occasionally, I would relax and clear my mind only to find the LED concentration indicator (and the ball) rise to its highest level. There were also times when I would be concentrating hard, but nothing would happen. Maybe it's the game, maybe it's my awesomely complex brain—who knows.

There are five different game modes, but I spent most of my time in "Freestyle" trying to improve my accuracy. I wasn't all that thrilled with manually guiding the ball around the course with the control knob, but I will admit that the customizable obstacles were a fun challenge—especially the funnel cannon.

You may think differently, but I'm not the kind of guy that finds this type of game interesting for long stretches of time. Although, it would be awesome if the technology matured enough to integrate it into a more complex, multi-dimensional board game. For now, Mindflex seems like something you would whip out at a party to impress your friends until everyone got a headache and stopped after 30 minutes. Speaking of headaches, I have to warn my big-headed brethren that the headset can be massively uncomfortable. I had it on it's biggest setting, but the metal sensor on the inside front part of the band was still digging hard into my gigantic grape. Plus, the clips on your ears don't help matters.

It responds fairly well to your concentration levels.

The customizable obstacles can be a fun challenge.

Some may find the game boring after the novelty wears off.

The $80 price tag is steep.

The headset can be uncomfortable.

[Mindflex]

But for you younger types, Boing Boing has a run down of this season's big brain games. From Star Wars to neural mice, they're all here, ready to move and impress with nothing but the power of thought. Well, not exactly. As BB's Rob Beschizza notes, the same primitive control schemes of the 1980s are somewhat in place with these crude toys as well. Maybe next year we'll have a real neural interface under the tree.

For you nostalgic types, there's the Atari MindLink, pictured. Sadly, the profound box art of its solitary game couldn't really hide the fact that it was Breakout with headgear. As such, the unit never officially made it into production. It lives on today, however, in gimmicky Star Wars-branded floating plastic ball games. [Boing Boing]

Somewhere between kidnapping Jaycee Dugard, keeping her as a sex slave, forcing her to bear several of his children, and proclaiming that this process cured him of his pedophelia, Garrido blogged under the name of THEMANWHOSPOKEWITHHISMIND. The least sick and most coherent of his writings explains that he desperately wants to patent a new gadget:

This document is to affirm that I Phillip Garrido have clearly demonstrated the ability to control sound with my mind and have developed a device for others to witness this phenomena. by using a sound generator to provide the sound, and a headphone amplification system, (a device to focus your hearing so as to increase the sensitivity of what one is listening to) I have produced a set of voices by effectively controlling the sound to pronounce words through my own mental powers.

Sure, the gadget sounds like something straight out of a nice sci-fi read and something we'd love to play around with, but it's straight from the hallucinations of a man with issues that I can't stomach listing.

BoingBoing's Xeni Jardin ends her write up about Garrido with the words "May he rot in hell" and I don't think any of us will disagree with the sentiment. Hell, one of our own editors expressed his feelings a bit more visually. [BoingBoing]

According to Wired, you can really do some fancy stuff inside the mind by injecting an engineered virus into cells then shining a blue laser beam at them. The point is to pinpoint neurons that aren't doing what they should, and using this very pinpointy process to kick start them without playing havoc on the rest of the brain.

To what end? We're not at Cybermen just yet, but one of the proposed uses is actually prosthesis controlled by optics instead of electrodes as they are now. If this isn't at all scaring you yet, check this bit of Wired's story out:

Crucial to the technique is that the virus is only injected into a very small part of the brain, and only a certain class of neurons, once infected, actually turn the channel on.

Or what? Please tell me, or what?

Turns out, it's... Or else the treatment would resemble the kind of clumsier brain teasers, like drugs and electrodes. MIT neuroscientists Ed Boyden and Xue Han have already done it with primates, which, as everyone but Mike Huckabee knows, are close relatives to the human. Prior to that, fish, flies and rodents were all lasered up, with successful mind-control results. I am so happy I live in the present day, and not some quaint, almost cute past where all I had to worry about were influenza viruses and low-flying aeroplanes. [Wired]

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]

For those in the dark, the Neurosky Mindset, is a gaming controller that monitors brainwaves, and uses those readings to carry out specific actions within a game. In demos, this includes sliding boxes, lifting objects, and setting crap on fire. It also doubles as a pair of Headphones with a bluetooth mic built-in.

So how well does it work? I didn't spend tons of time with the demo, but I thought it was pretty intuitive, and I was able to channel different types of mind focus into in-game action. When asked to relax in order to levitate an item, I consciously made myself "relax." Lo and behold, the car started flying in the air. "Concentration" occurs when you focus intently on one point on the screen. I wasn't the greatest at this.

The headset is pretty light and sits comfortably over your ears with the probe that rests on your forehead. This probe helps pickup brainwave signals, or "electrical potentials" to be exact. During calibration, the computer detects the type and magnitude of waves you generate in certain scenarios, then adjusts the sensitivity so that gameplay is achievable for everyone.

And to be clear, the Mindset isn't trying to replace standard gaming controls as they exist now. Rather, they're trying to add functionality that doesn't require further, more complex button combos, but intuitive hands-free gestures instead.

The Mindset will be available in July for roughly $200. Neurosky says they would like to partner up with companies and developers down the road (they're launching with Toshiba in Japan), but want to get the hardware out there so that apps can start showing up in the marketplace.

Outside of the PC gaming world, Neurosky says they're working on putting the same technology into cars, where the seats can detect how you're feeling and predict what you need (music, heater, A/C, answering in-car phone). They're also working with medical groups and companies to test disorders like ADD and Cerebral Palsy, and will even produce a DS memory game using a custom headset later this year.

As it stands now, the sticking point with the Neurosky Mindset is that it will depend on third-party developer support to really get off the ground. It won't add new functionality to old games, nor will they be developing their own apps. But they will have an SDK ready over the summer so that people can program their own apps around the device. [Neurosky]

NeuroSky® and Toshiba® to Launch Brainwave-Reading Headset for PCs

San Jose, California (March 26, 2009) – Toshiba, Inc., a leading manufacturer of personal computer (PC) equipment, and NeuroSky, Inc., a Brain-Computer-Interface (BCI) technology company, today announced the launch of a jointly-developed brainwave-based advance headset that operates with most PC products.

The MindSet™ wireless Bluetooth® headset features brainwave-reading and mental-state-translational technology from NeuroSky, Inc., a Silicon Valley company. With earlier NeuroSky partner announcements in the toy (Uncle Milton Force Trainer™, under a Lucas Licensing deal) and video gaming industries (Square Enix Judecca™), the Toshiba-NeuroSky product launch represents the first BCI peripheral directed to mainstream PC users.

"The joint development effort between Toshiba and NeuroSky is a historic step into fusing brainwave-enabled peripherals into the mass market of computer users," stated Hitoshi Tokuda, General Manager of the PC Options Marketing Division at Toshiba.

Stanley Yang, CEO of NeuroSky, considers this announcement a key milestone for both companies. "This Toshiba and NeuroSky partnership is an exciting step towards revolutionizing the way people interact with computers."

Game Developers Conference

NeuroSky will be demonstrating the MindSet along with a variety of partner products at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in booth #6402, North Hall, Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA, on March 23-27.

How MindSet Works

The MindSet headset resembles a pair of headphones with one distinct difference-a single electrode-fitted arm that contacts with the user's forehead. The electrode reads the electrical potentials found on the skin's surface, which are induced by the neuron activity that occurs in the frontal lobe of the user's brain. Various "mental states" of the users-for example, their level of focus and relaxation-can be deciphered from the brainwave patterns. That information can be passed to a variety of PC-based applications for entertainment, health, wellness, education, and training purposes.

Pricing and Availability

The MindSet may now be pre-ordered by consumers, application developers and researchers on the NeuroSky website (www.NeuroSky.com).

The headset will be available to order online under the NeuroSky brand for U.S. residents on June 1, 2009, and roll out to select international markets later this year. MindSet will be priced at $199 (MSRP) and will be accompanied by two demonstration games, Brainwave Visualizer™ and The Adventures of NeuroBoy™. Alternative developer programs will continue to be available on a worldwide basis through NeuroSky.

Both consumers and developers will be offered further incentives with this summer's launch of the NeuroSky Application Store, a portal of downloadable, third-party applications created by the NeuroSky Developer Network.
Begin harnessing the power of your mind with the NeuroSky MindSet headset. This Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) turns your thoughts into actions, unlocking new worlds of interactivity. By measuring your brain waves, the headset can send messages to your computer-allowing you to control the computer with your thoughts. The NeuroSky MindSet can be paired with video games, research devices or a number of other tools for an enhanced user experience.

New applications are coming soon, so get your Mindset to begin developing your mind power.

* The MindSet reports the wearer's mental state in the form of NeuroSky's proprietary Attention and Meditation eSense algorithms.
* Captures brainwave signals from 0-30Hz.
* Providing information on a user's Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma EEG band power levels
* Features Bluetooth microphone input and stereo audio output capabilities.

Also included:

* Instructional videos and detailed documentation
* "NeuroBoy," - a game demo and example environment that highlights different ways to implement NeuroSky's brainwave algorithms. In the game, you play as NeuroBoy, a gifted kid with mental super powers. Float, push, burn, and interact with the world using your mental might.
* Brainwave Visualizer and NeuroSky's demonstration tools - The Brainwave Visualizer paints brainwave activity dynamically displaying the information in an artistic and vibrant manner. With the additional NeuroTech R&D Kit, users can perform their own brainwave research, or develop their own software and hardware applications to interact with, and take advantage of all the MindSet's capabilities.

System Requirements:

* Windows Vista Preferred
* 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo or Equivalent Processor
* 1GB Memory
* DirectX 10
* 256MB 3D Graphics Card for Games/Demonstrations

The first part of the video would seem to show that initial reports of the experiment's success were overblown—the bug is pretty much just switched on and off, tethered to a string like so many unlucky June bugs. The experiments do get quite a bit more advanced, with enough fairly fine directional control to show that flying one of these beetles around like an R/C plane isn't out of the questions.

In these videos the beetle is never fully untethered, and I imagine such a demonstration would look a bit less like an "enhanced experimentation technique" and more like a small-scale air-disaster. The most important question won't be relevant to our generation(s), but the next: CYBORG DEATH BEETLES? The new HotWheels? [Technology Review—Thanks, Robert]

The first part of that, the true part, represents a huge step in the mechanical control of living things. It's far from the first foray into insect mind control, but by far the most precise—this specimen, commanded by six radio-actuated electrodes on the beetle's muscles and brain, could be piloted around the room like a tiny RC plane.

The hardware isn't much of a burden for the beetle, which is capable of taking flight with more than twice the 1.3g mass of the apparatus on board. The remaining payload will probably be filled with camera gear, as this project is funded by DARPA (natch) for surveillance purposes.

Unfortunately there's no video of the demo yet, but we have been furnished with this unintentionally funny picture of the event, which may or may not contain the bug in question. Can you spot it? [Tech-on]

Mind Flex is a game in which the participant wears a headset that scans brainwaves with the hopes of controlling a mousetrap-like board. If the user can concentrate hard enough, they can activate a fan that will push a ball through a series of hoops. So the end product, on sale later this year for $80, is really taking a simple technological concept (brain activity) and skinning it with a complicated-looking function (fans, balls, hoops, circles of fire, etc). But much like a similar game called Brainball, it's still probably a parlor trick that excites a crowd. [Telegraph via gadgetreview]

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]

In the second part Kamen talks about how the arm's control systems were developed, simplifying an 18-degrees of freedom movement space so that it could be controlled almost subconsciously by the user.
Part three is where Kamen talks about his not-for profit scheme to get young people interested in science through robots: "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology" (FIRST); "like sports, nobody ever walks around saying 'I wanna be second'."

Interesting stuff, as I said, and the Luke arm seems to have a pretty astounding future ahead of it. I can't help thinking I'd've asked a few more direct questions though. Is the arm dexterous enough for it to let a wearer/user use the toilet? When the Luke arm gets to that level of sophistication—and, more importantly, when its developer/users trust it enough to do intimate tasks like that with it—that's the point at which I reckon the arm will stop being a science-technology showpiece and really make a difference in people's lives. Over to you in the comments. [Kara.AllthingsD]

The commander wakes the child up at 6 a.m., and prompts players to put on the helmet and hit a "roger" button to acknowledge their wakefulness. Then, they are ordered to count to 10 in five different languages: English, Japanese, German, Swahili and Malagasy. At that point, the player is "allowed to take off the equipment and start the day"—wtf?! Didn't Akira start this way? [People.jp via CrunchGear]

Unfortunately, neither company was in the mood to elaborate on the subject, so the exact nature of the device(s) are unknown. In the end, this tatic may backfire given the fact that the final product will most likely fall well short of what our imaginations can conjure up. Feel free to speculate...wildly. [Wired]

Hit the link for the video demonstration. Now we just need scientists to hone the "don't blow my head off with that laser" command and we'll be all set. – Mark Wilson

Human Thoughts Control New Robot [livescience]
Video

The result of this is that you can move the wheelchair solely with the power of your mind. This device doesn't give you MIND BULLETS (apologies to Tenacious D) but it does allow people who can't use other wheelchairs get around easier. – Jason Chen

Nikkei Net(Japanese) [via Pink Tentacle via slashgear]