MindFlex: Telekinesis power sold in a box

Posted September 21st, 2009 by VTHron
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mindflex

We have to admit, our (hidden) geeky-ness was totally aroused with the idea of mind-controlled games that we wrote about here and here. Who wouldn't be? Think about the intense and endless hours of World of Warcraft with both hands free! Imagine yourself blasting away in Grand Theft Auto with a slice of Red Baron pizza in your right hand and a can of diet Coke in your left, while playing. Whoa! Look ma, no hands!

 

You simply will your moves with the power of your mind. We can hardly wait to see this happen.

 

Here comes Mattel's MindFlex. It's not just about controlling characters, and causing death and mayhem on the action inside the PC monitor. MindFlex is about making an object - a real object in front of you - move.... just using the power of your mind!

 

Using EEG technology (previously confined only to clinical settings), MindFlex allows the user to command and control a small ball's vertical movement through brain activity. It's the closest one can come to telekinesis. To learn about the science behind MindFlex, check out the video after the break.

 

 

 

 

MindFlex works through concentration and focus. Churn up your brain cells by solving a mathematical problem, and watch as the ball goes up. The harder you concentrate, the higher the ball rises. Think happy, relaxing thoughts, and the ball goes down to rest.

 

We couldn't help but wonder, would Stephen Hawking's brain shoot this ball through the roof?

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Mind-controlled devices: Matrix Reloaded

Posted October 9th, 2008 by VTHron
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matirx
 
Technology is fast catching up with fiction.
 
It was just a decade ago when the Wachowski brothers thought about mind-controlled computer simulations and created the mind-blowing blockbuster Matrix trilogy. In the movie, the Matrix is the mental projection of people's digital selves in a virtual world. Remember this, "Do not try and bend the spoon, that's impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth...that there is no spoon"?
 

Now, the computer gaming horizon is getting stirred up by the rapid development of a mind-computer interface. With this technology, supposedly, you can game as if you're Neo strapped to a chair with a large socket plugged in to your skull. Except that there would be no humungous socket drilled to your skull -- you simply put on a trendy X-Men wireless headset.


Neurosky and Emotiv are leading the pack of these mind-reading geeks.


A year after Neurosky was founded (2004), it boasted of its brainwave-reading technology that interfaces with consumer electronic products such as mobile technology (teamed up with China Mobile in 2005), toys (teamed up with Sega Toys in 2007), and finally teaming up with Square Enix to produce the mind-computer interface which was then only available to Thomas Anderson (OK, I'm just showing off...it's Neo!) and Morpheus's gang.


Emotiv seems to have stolen Eurosky's thunder lately with the (brain)waves the company has been stirring. Read this report from CNN.


While the future looks bright with this development, some remain skeptical about this brain-computer interface. It takes a lot of practice to fine-tune one's hand-eye coordination.


Then again, even Neo had to train his brain before he could stop bullets in mid-air.

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Mind-controlled devices: for PC-games and beyond

Posted October 7th, 2008 by VTHron
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prof x
 
If you think mind-control and telekinesis used to be the type of stuff you could only find in sci-fi flicks or paranormal literature, think again. 
 
Emotiv Systems is creating "the ultimate interface for the next-generation of human-machine interaction...(it) has created technologies that allow machines to take both conscious and non-conscious inputs directly from your mind."  Using electroencephalography or EEG, Emotiv Systems has developed a way for you to communicate with your computer with your thoughts, via your brain's electrical activity.  While this techonology offers endless possibilities for a wide span of industries, Emotive Systems is currently setting its sights on the entertainment gaming industries. 
 
Look Ma, no hands! 
 
No wires, no mice, no keyboards, no joysticks, this brain-computer interface is now becoming a reality with the use of wireless headset called Epoc.  A lot more like the telepathic superpowers of X-Men's hero Professor X (when you control your game characters) or the villain Magneto (when you control objects) Epoc gives you this mind-control power once you slip on this headgear.  It does its work by reading the electrical signals from your brain and translating them into commands that control the computer. 
 
To clearly illustrate its capabilities, Epoc comes bundled with a computer game.  You need not strain yourself with the rigors of "hand-eye coordination" with this gadget.  You can "lift" or "bend" things on the monitor by just willing the action in your mind.  Hello Francis Xavier! 
 
It is also interesting to note that while science could not explain telekinesis, it now succeeds in simulating it through Epoc.  This mind-boggling device is expected to hit the market by the end of the year.

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