

Mind-controlled videogames are here - brevityness
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304707604577426251091339254.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_LEADTop

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gmurphy
I looked into the Neurosky and Emotiv headsets the other day for a side
project. They've been on the market for a while, but most reviews are pretty
cautious.

The Neurosky headset appears to suffer from inconsistent readings, and is
mostly really good at picking up muscle movement (head turning, blinking) -
great if that's what you're after, but terrible if not.

[http://www.colorfulwolf.com/blog/2009/12/13/mind-control-
for...](http://www.colorfulwolf.com/blog/2009/12/13/mind-control-for-the-
masses-neurosky-mindset/)

The Emotiv headset has some mechanical issues - the pads are a pain to wet and
place and keep falling out. The data also appears to be super encrypted and
quite hacker-unfriendly, so I stopped reading there.

[http://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/27/review-emotiv-epoc-
tough-t...](http://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/27/review-emotiv-epoc-tough-
thoughts-on-the-new-mind-reading-cont/)

<http://thingist.com/t/item/23089/> (some angry words)

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tsumnia
I got the Emotiv headset a few years ago when the came out. It suffers the
same shortcomings of needing neuromuscular responses. When I was training the
model, it was just easier to get it to do things squeezing parts of my face.

That being said, I wonder if this shortcoming is more on the user. Their
userbase are hobbyist and dabblers who have grown up with the explicit
knowledge that you CAN'T move something with your mind (this is an entirely
unsupported thought).

Instead of training just being 'think about moving the box', you could look
into techniques like phantom hand therapy. Have the user go through a similar
session where the application tries to elicit a response similar to the
therapy as a way to get them to start manifesting a better response (maybe mix
it with the visualization techniques athletes use) for training. While not
optimal, have the user physcially do something X times, then make them
visualize doing it.

Like I said, I think the problem is more in the user than the hardware (I've
never had a problem w/ the Emotiv). If someone comes along with a better
training method, then this would certainly help.

Lastly, I don't think neuromuscular training is entirely a bad thing. It
lessens the 'ooo' factor of controlling something with your mind and alienates
people who'd actually want to use this (quadriplegics), but as an able-bodied
person, I see no reason not to be able to use them.

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scoopr
Interaxon demoed a mind controlled version of a Zen Bound 2, a game I've
worked on, few years ago. <http://vimeo.com/18307473>

I never got to test it though.

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wahnfrieden
I got to try it out last year, it's a novel application of the tech but it
takes a lot of practice before you can really feel in control. It was more
immediately interesting to just use the demo app that shows the exact
parameters being measured. The Zen Bound 2 demo is very cool to see a pro use
though.

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gosub
With the wide spreading of gamification, also mind-controlling videogames are
here.

