Computer interactivity using just the brain

The brain sensor equipment was an eye opener, since people seldom think of using brainwaves to do things. In fact, this is usually only seen in futuristic movies and the like. However, I have to say that I was not very surprised about it as I have heard about toys utilising such technology before. The presentation provided more insight into how these devices worked. Using four types of brainwaves and their levels, the computer is able to detect the user concentrating on something, and even blinking.

Some benefits of this device are:

The ability to detect brain activity without having to use a large non-portable scanning device. This means that for applications that do not need a high amount of resolution, this would be enough. Having this portability allows for people to set up the equipment easily, thus increasing the amount of time people spend using it. This also includes the ability to perform user studies and connect human emotions to actions. With this device, studies could be conducted to find out what the user is feeling at different points in time during an activity without requiring elaborate set-ups.

The ability to do things without having to move your hands, or the ability to multitask even further by adding at least more set of "hands" to the ones you already have. This would be useful for the disabled, since it would be able to tell what they are thinking without a need for them to fully express themselves in actions or words. Additionally, a skilled person would be able to do the work of 2 people by using his hand to move one set of controls, and his mind to move another set of controls.

However, there are still some disadvantages to this device.

The device might not be able to detect the user's brainwaves due to some interference as minor as hair, or some other anomaly. This would mean that it would be more difficult for some users to utilise it, which could be a turn off.

As hard as some people try, they might not be able to produce the desired waveforms to control things, which would be very frustrating. A solution to this would be to customize the software such that it matches the waveforms he desires to produce. However, this would require a database to store the information, and is also time-costly.

Current applications involve the user having to concentrate to turn a fan motor in order to raise a foam ball(MindFlex, Force Trainer). While these are just toys and may seem fun, they are actually unintuitive in that the user would try to keep thinking "rise" in an effort to concentrate and make the ball rise. This would mean that concentrating would only yield one application, and relaxing another. This would be due to a lack in the ability of the device to sense on a higher resolution what the user is actually thinking. Past experiments on a monkey has yielded results that allowed a robotic arm to move exactly the monkey's did. However, this experiment was intrusive, something that not many people would consent to.

Even though the device opens up new horizons into the world of human-computer interactivity, I feel that more research has to be done before it can be used to its fullest potential. Due to the difficulties involved in applying it to everyday uses, it is currently more useful as a data gathering device for researchers, or in criminology to find out if a suspect is lying.