The dream of controlling TV and other devices with our brainwaves might become reality sooner than we think.
BBC Digital’s division posted a blog piece about how they have developed a prototype that allows viewers to control TV with their minds.
“For our latest project, we took a simple low cost brainwave reading headset and, working with UK based user experience studio This Place, created a ‘Mind Control TV’ prototype,” wrote Cyrus Saihan, head of business development for BBC Digital. “It allows users to open an experimental version of BBC iPlayer and select a TV programme to view, using nothing but their brainwaves.”
They tested it with 10 BBC staffers and reported that “all were able to launch BBC iPlayer and start viewing a programme simply by using their minds.”
The site also has a video showing the BBC staff controlling the TV with their minds — and the gadget that sits atop their heads linking to their foreheads.
Their faces are shocked and amazed that it works and how easy it is to use. Once you watch the video, you will be, too.
How does it work? The “electroencephalography (EEG) brainwave reading headset has one small sensor that rests on a user’s forehead and another on a clip that attaches to the ear. These sensors measure electrical activity in the brain.”
BBC Digital states that it’s experimenting with mind control for devices to improve accessibility and user interface, and “is always looking at ways of using technology to satisfy people’s increasing desire to get to the digital content that they want as quickly and easily as possible – such as using voice-control with BBC iPlayer on Xbox One,” Saihan writes.
He says that mind control may be the next step in gaming, among other daily applications.
