I see the light, and I can read your mind

Zatni Arbi ,  Contributor ,  Jakarta   |  Mon, 10/19/2009 1:24 PM  |  Sci-Tech

"Open sesame" may soon no longer be the secret monopoly of robbers in Ali Baba's tale, now that any device with a voice control system (based on speech recognition) can do what they did. In fact, this technology is already more than 10 years old.

There's also new technology to recognize gestures, such as Project Natal being developed by Microsoft. This project is geared toward gaming, in particular for the Xbox 360, and allows gamers to play games without using controllers, but simply with bodily gestures.

Just imagine if we could control a system with just the power of the brain! No physical movements would be necessary, and no audio prompts needed either.

As we know, research on brain power has been around for some time. And we have also heard that the power of the brain can move mountains.

At least, some extra brain power would help us achieve more in life. Deddy Corbuzier, for example, claims that his shows, which people enjoy quite a lot, are based on the power of the brain, but people must pay handsomely to be entertained by him.

Like research on brain power, research on human-computer interaction has also been going on since the early 1960s, when researchers began exploring the use of graphical interfaces and the pointing device.

Today, Carnegie-Mellon University's Human Computer Interface Institute is one of the leading research institutions in this field. Most of its research is focused on the design of the user interface. How should an interface be built to make it as intuitive as possible? Progress in this discipline has resulted in very user-friendly web pages, applications and even computer hardware.

We have also heard of what is known as Brain Computer Interfacing (BCI). This is technology used to track the movements of millions of electrons in the brain. But, what about B2B? - not Business-to-Business but Brain-to-Brain communication. B2B research is being carried out by Dr Christopher James from the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research, at the University of Southampton (www.soton.ac.uk).

He has demonstrated in an experiment (which can be seen on YouTube) where two people can communicate over the Internet just by using the power of their thoughts. No tapping on keyboards, no voice commands and no waving of hands is required.

How does it work? First, each of the people must wear an electroencephalogram, or EEG. This device, widely used in hospitals and research centers to map patients' brain activity, captures the signals the brain sends out. These signals are translated into commands, which can be used to control computers, robots, artificial limbs and many other electronic devices.

The brain signals of the first person, received by their computer, are then translated into binary code. These binary digits are then sent to the second person's computer and presented to him in flashing LED lights. The lights use two different frequencies, one for zeros and the other for ones.

"The pattern of the flashing LEDS is too subtle to be picked by the second person, but it is picked up by electrodes measuring the visual cortex of the recipient," ScienceDaily reported in its Oct. 16 edition. A PC will then help decipher the information being conveyed.

On his experiment, Dr. James said, "Whilst BCI is no longer a new thing, and person-to-person communication via the nervous system has been shown previously in work by Professor Kevin Warwick from the University of Reading, here we show, for the first time, true brain-to-brain interfacing."

Communication is still limited to the person's ability to imagine he is moving the left hand to indicate a zero or the right hand to indicate a one. Still, the possibilities of application are numerous. While BCI may help a completely disabled quadriplegic to control his wheelchair, B2B may enable him to communicate with the outside world. There will be some potential in computer gaming applications, as well.

The boundary between the human brain and machines seems to be gradually disappearing. We just hope that no one will use this technology to control other people's minds, and instruct them to transfer all the savings in their bank accounts.

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