Controlling your computer - with your thoughts

Emotiv Systems of Australia has come up with something very interesting. According to a news report:

Emotiv Systems, founded by four Australian scientists in 2003, will release the $US299 EPOC headset on the US market this year.

Featuring 16 sensors that measure electrical impulses from the brain, the headset - which plugs into the PC's USB port - will enable games to register facial expressions, emotions and even cognitive thoughts, allowing players to perform in-game actions just by visualising them.

A prototype of the system was demonstrated at the Game Developers Conference in 2007. It certainly wowed the reviewer. It's now in production and ready for consumer sale.

This fascinates me. I don't play computer games much (cards, that sort of thing), so this particular version of the technology isn't on my shopping list: but what about future applications? As it's further developed, this can replace voice control for the paralyzed; it can allow blind or deaf people to 'communicate' with their computers much more naturally; it can be applied to all software, of whatever function.

In the wider field, how about controlling robots? Flying remotely piloted vehicles? Working in a dangerous environment, where a human presence is essential but his or her life would be endangered by proximity? This headset (further developed) could allow an operator to control a dangerous machine by thought, rather than by standing next to a button or control panel where he or she might be at risk.

I think this is the first wave of a whole new level of technology. I'll be watching with intense interest.

Peter