I Just Controlled A Computer With My Mind, Here's How

Technological innovations in the modern era are ten-a-penny. Everywhere we look, revolutionary advancements are being made in engineering, computing, science, medicine and more. The leaps and bounds being made by minds much smarter than yours or mine have catapulted the human race into a golden age with no signs of slowing down.

Nowadays, the hottest topics are microchips and implants into the human brain. It's often been a part of science fiction, popularised with franchises like Blade Runner and Cyberpunk, and in real-life by eccentric billionaire Elon Musk's company Neuralink. Heck, even Bill Gates is getting in on the act, putting chips in our vaccines.

But what if there were a real-world augment that could change the way we interact with video games here, today? One that could open up a world of accessibility to those who are unable to use controllers or a mouse and keyboard? What if this piece of tech could negate the need for them at all?

Introducing Nextmind:

Nextmind is described as "making real-time Brain-Computer Interfaces accessible to the world." What that means to the laymen, is that you are able to directly interact with your computer screen simply by looking at it.

The way this works is actually rather neat. Dry electrodes (or sensors) on the Nextmind device press against the back of your head where your visual cortex is located; that's the part of the brain that processes what you see. The electrodes are able to measure what your eyes see via non-invasive EEG (Electroencephalography) signals, translating them using learning algorithms and sending the inputs from the device to your computer via bluetooth.

Those signals are represented on screen by pulsating images that you must concentrate on. During the Nextmind's calibration, you focus on the images until the device recognises that your brain is seeing the patterns subconsciously. Later when you look at something showing this pattern, your brain flags it and pings the device which tells the computer how to react. It's a lot like how eye tracking technology works, but it cuts out the middle-man of a camera, instead taking the information directly from the brain itself.

What's perhaps more impressive than the science, is that this actually works. I drew a crowd in our office of folks eager to have a go and they were all impressed and excited to have tried something so cutting-edge. Saying that it could replace controllers is probably a little premature - after all ten fingers are much more suited to gaming than a single pair of eyes. Even a chameleon would struggle to play a competitive FPS with all the on-screen prompts in the world.

Nextmind

The possibilities are vast, but what if this was used in conjunction with a modern gaming setup? Perhaps using your eyes to interact with a HUD, cycle menus or target enemies before using the controller to blast them into oblivion. Indeed the handful of demo games available on the companion NextmindManager app lean into these possibilities.

A Brick Breaker game has you directing a platform to certain quadrants and bouncing a ball into digital bricks, while another is a primitive 2D sidescroller that uses the keyboard in tandem with the device to blow up enemies and move platforms. One is a simple music maker where you select your percussion, ambiance and synth by looking at the corresponding tiles.

But it's another app that really caught my attention. A rather inconspicuous one that, as it turns out, has nothing to do with gaming. A TV channel changer sounds so obvious and boring that it's hardly worth a glance to most people, but to those who struggle with motor skills, the ability to simply look at a screen and do what you need it to do could be revolutionary. Life changing, even.

Of course any new technology comes with its potential pitfalls, and the Nextmind is no exception. For those with sight issues, it's almost a non-starter, as they wouldn't be able to see the on-screen images. The flashing imagery could trigger epilepsy in those who suffer with it. There's also the issue of cost. Currently, the hardware's priced at around £400 which is simply out of the question for a lot of people. Especially as its use is so limited at the moment.

And what of the potential for intrusion on our personal data? There's undoubtedly some ne'er-do-wells who would love to get their hands on information captured directly from people's brains. Nextmind do ask if you're comfortable having your data collected by them to be used in their research but not everybody might have such philanthropic goals.

Finally, the Nextmind is not really at complete usability yet. Currently, it's more of a working proof of concept than something that's ready to go to market. The next step for the Nextmind is going to be in getting the technology into the hands of developers and app makers to begin to unlock its obvious potential. And who knows; if they're able to, this could be the future in human/technology integration without the need of those pesky implants.

Topics: Features