Telepathic Computing Making a Steady Rise

“With practice you can learn to manipulate your brainwave pattern.”

A man wears the Emotiv EPOC, a headset that is able to detect the subtle signals the mind emits and translates them into commands for computers. Courtesy of Emotiv

Thought-controlled technology is slowly making its way into the market and could allow users to control just about any piece of technology using only their minds.

The two main companies working on this are Emotiv—which already has such a device on the market for $299—and Toronto-based InterXon. The systems work by detecting the electric signals the brain emits and translating them into different commands that are readable by a computer.

According to a description of the technology on InteraXon’s website, the brain “generates electrical patterns that resonate outside your head,” and the signals can then be detected by devices known as Electroencephalographs (EEG).

“The EEG can’t read your thoughts, just your brain’s overall pattern of activity, like how relaxed or alert you are,” states the InteraXon website. “With practice you can learn to manipulate your brainwave pattern, like flexing a muscle you’ve never used before.”

The EEG systems from InteraXon and Emotiv measure these brainwaves and converts variations of the signals into commands that can be understood by computers.

“We allow people to control things with their brainwaves,” says InteraXon COO Trevor Coleman in a promotional video for the system. “We can take this system anywhere and give people, for the first time, the opportunity to control something with their mind—to have that line between their mind and the world erased.”

It’s not as if the user thinks “move left” and a computer-controlled character moves to the left, however. The user will need to learn to control the different thoughts the EEGs can recognize, then associate the signals with a computer command.

The Emotiv EPOC headset, which is already on the market for $299, has just 14 different sensors capable of picking up commands. The device resembles a headset with several small sensors branching out of it.

“It uses a set of sensors to tune into electric signals produced by the brain to detect player thoughts, feelings, and expressions and connects wirelessly to most PCs,” says a description of the device on Emotiv’s website.

Emotiv is offering several applications for the headset and has an App Store where users can access games and programs made to work with the device. It’s also being marketed for researchers and advertisers to collect real-time feedback on how people react to different products or materials.