Thie Cave

It is just two days away from the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2007. GDC is a prestigious conference where game researchers and developers from industry and academia meet in one venue exchanging and showcasing ideas.

Emotiv Systems is showcasing its technology and prototype, the headset called Project Epoc and the Emotiv Development kit. The company has received an enormous publicity lately, such as,

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/project-epoc-lets-you-control-video-games-with-your-noggin-240760.php

http://www.ubergizmo.com/15/archives/2007/02/gaming_on_a_telekinesis_level.html

http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2007/03/post_8.html
http://www.accessonmainstreet.net/
http://news.softpedia.com/news/The-Game-Controller-that-Taps-Directly-into-Your-Brain-48296.shtml

Many interesting and at times hilarious comments have been posted on these sites.

Honda’s technology of using brain signals to control robots has recently made an appearance at the SMH. The technology detects MRI patten of a person when he/she makes a hand movement/gesture and controls the robot to perform the same hand movement. Interestingly, Honda believes that it will take at least 5 or even 10 years before a robot can move according to our will reflected on the brain signals. See the full story here.
Honda is wrong. Several companies, such as Emotiv and Neurosky, has been racing to produce a technology which detects our mind from EEG. Even if Honda is right in its prediction, its technology is definitely lagging behind.

SMH published an article about Allan Snyder’s work in unearthing human’s creativitiy. The idea is that the unconscious part of the brain filters out lots of information that the brain picks up. Consequently, the conscious part of the brain only receives the “big picture”, missing out many details of our surroundings.

Allan has done extensive research work that these details can be passed to the conscious part of the brain when the unconscious part is switched off by exposing it to a large magnet. When this happens, we not only start paying more attention to details of our observations but also manifesting creativity. Of course, the effect is only temporary. As soon as the magnet is removed, the effect fades out. Interestingly, the article does not mention any side effects. From my understanding some people may experience a seizure as a side effect although it is only temporary.
By the way, Allan Snyder is a co-founder of Emotiv Systems, a company that developes a technology to detect brain states.