Brain-computer interface for Second Life

Keio University bioengineers have demonstrated the control of a Second Life avatar using a non-invasive brain-computer interface. The news release is in Japanese but the Neurophilosophy blog reports that the device monitors electrical activity in the motoro cortex via external electrodes on the scalp. A video demonstration is also available on the site. From Neurophilosophy:

All a user has to do to control his/her avatar is imagine performing various movements. The activity monitored by the headpiece is read and plotted by an electroencephalogram, which relays it to a computer running a brain wave analysis algorithm that interprets the imagined movements. A keyboard emulator then translates the data into signals which can be used to control the movements of the user's on-screen avatar in real-time.

Link to Neurophilosophy, Link to YouTube video, Link to Keio University news release

• [Michael]

  Wow. I just want to go on record as having said, “Wow.” I like this century, even with the bitter pills we’re having to swallow.

  Also: I, too, saw the Muppet. Weird.

• [Anonymous]

  How difficult would this be to setup and use? We wanted to use this to conduct a study in an attempt stroke victims.

• [Cpt. Tim]

  it looks kind of like a brain slug.

• [Francis Siefken]

  Imagine combining this with relatively cheap stereovision goggles (like the z800), headtracking wouldn’t even be necessary as you would move by thought alone.

  I doubt if the BMI signals are finegrained enough to replace the efficiency of a mouse or the movement of your head, even in forseeable future. For VR applications and games perhaps 2 Wii like gesture controllers for the hands, combined with built in headtracker in the visor will be more practical.

  But for people having muscle diseases and other handicaps research like this offers much potential.

• [Peter K.]

  It’s fine enough that this is working for video games, but I’m more interested in whether it works for individuals with various forms of paralysis or movement related disabilities.

  Is this something Steven Hawking or others could be using to facilitate communication or real-world locomotion more effectively?

• [gary maloney]

  This kind of telekinesis will be possible when an electrode array becomes implantable. For the rest of us, only if there is enough variance in the signals at scalp level; or if the electrode can essentially be improved.

• [jere7my]

  The picture on the left looks a lot like a Muppet staring directly at the camera. It took me a moment to see that it was a person in profile.

• [David Pescovitz]

  @Jere7my (#3), Totally! At first it looked like some strange plushie/hat the person was wearing.

• [Teresa Nielsen Hayden / Moderator]

  Peter K., if it works, of course it will get used for such purposes. In the meantime, Second Life is a great environment for development and testing.

• [Adam Rakunas]

  This is very, very cool. As this controller becomes more refined and starts incorporating more SL commands (thought-controlled object construction? Sweet!), this is going to make virtual worlds that much more powerful as a storytelling/meeting/prototyping medium. And as virtual worlds start adding more gestural controls, this rig will live up to the promise of “Snow Crash.”

  I just hope they can filter out user frustration when the grid crashes.

• [dharma rascal]

  Check out the YouTube comments – classic…

• [changescat]

  How exactly like the brilliant Cronenberg film eXistenZ is this? (the actual brain-interface at the end, that is, not the organic pod things).