World’s First Brain-Controlled Gaming Headset is Available

Published by Sierra Monica B., on Feb 21 2008, in the categories: Gadgets

The trend of developing brain controlled handsets affected Emotiv too and the company specialized in brain computer interface technology announced the neuroheadset called EPOC, which lets you control the gameplay with your thoughts and emotions.
EPOC was presented at Game Developers Conference in San Francisco and the retail price was set at $299 with the headset available for pre-orders online on Emotiv’s website.

Worlds First Brain Controlled Gaming Headset is Available

The key characteristics of the EPOC headset is its light weight, wireless support, comfortable to wear, and special sensors in charge with detection of your emotions and thoughts.
EPOC does this using the electrical signals around your brain and processes these to let you control the game.

Imagine how cool will it be when you’ll be able to use such a headset to control the gameplay in virtual games like Second Life!
EPOC headset is capable of detecting more than 30 expressions, actions and emotions including immersion, meditation, excitement, frustration, tension, laugh, smile, crossed eye, wink, anger, shock, horizontal eye movement, grimace, pull, push, drop, lift, rotate, as well as actions based on visualization like the ability to make things disappear.

How would games respond to your reactions? – They could increase the complexity level, but players will be able to simulate the magical aspects by controlling some of the expressions, learning how to manipulate de objects with their brains.
Another key feature is the gyroscope which is integrated into the Emotiv EPOC headset and based on your head reactions it can give you camera and cursor control.

"The use of BCI technology represents a potential breakthrough in human-machine interfaces, changing the realm of possibilities not only for games, but in the way that humans and computers interact," declared Paul Ledak, vice president, IBM Digital Convergence. "As interactions in virtual environments become more complex, mice and keyboards alone may soon be inadequate. BCI is an important component of the 3D Internet and the future of virtual communication."