» Life Imitates Art

Back in the depths of time (or at least in ‘Confirmation Of Faith’), I jumped feet-deep into the whole cyber-era with the introduction of the Starwolves to the Legion Universe. One of the devices mentioned was the ‘Halo’, a non-implanted system to allow protagonists to interface with the ships. The ‘Halo’, for those of you who haven’t been keeping up with the latest and greatest developments over the past 750 thousand years of a race of hyper-intelligent artificial sentiences, acted as the analog of Neural Cores, linking the temporary versions of the other implants together to provide a limited emulation of the cybernetic abilities full-blown implants offered.

Happily, people with more ability to make such things a reality than I seem to have been working on a similar principle in reality. It’s not ‘new’ technology, but Emotiv Systems seems to have brought the entire concept of (temporary) neural interfaces a few steps further with the news of their EPOC neural headset.

Admittedly, most of the use for the device seems to be a blurring of the lines between true neural impulse detection and reaction, and detecting and reaction to movement of the muscles in the face and head. The software behind the technology comes in three parts:

• Affectiv™ Suite
  The Affectiv suite monitors player emotional states in real-time. It provides an extra dimension in game interaction by allowing the game to respond to a player’s emotions. Characters can transform in response to the player’s feeling. Music, scene lighting and effects can be tailored to heighten the experience for the player in real-time. The Affectiv suite can be used to monitor player state of mind and allow developers to adjust difficulty to suit each situation.
• Cognitiv™ Suite
  The Cognitiv suite reads and interprets a player’s conscious thoughts and intent. Gamers can manipulate virtual objects using only the power of their thought! For the first time, the fantasy of magic and supernatural power can be experienced.
• Expressiv™ Suite
  The Expressiv suite uses the signals measured by the neuroheadset to interpret player facial expressions in real-time. It provides a natural enhancement to game interaction by allowing game characters to come to life. When a player smiles, their avatar can mimic the expression even before they are aware of their own feelings. Artificial intelligence can now respond to players naturally, in ways only humans have been able to until now.

Source: Emotiv

A lot of what we’re ‘thinking’ can be read from our facial expressions and movements, such body language is a critical part of law enforcement for example (and was pretty useful to read in close protection, too), and it’s logical that Emotiv have taken that concept on board when developing the system. Until someone comes up with a way to use the implants themselves that are so useful in the Legion Universe, this looks to be the nearest thing available in reality.

One thing that puzzles me though. Emotive Systems is aiming this device heavily towards the gaming community. It might be that this is “where the money is”, but their web site makes no mention at all of the potential this device could have for people with disabilities. I do wonder if something like this, given it’s presumed ability to detect facial movements, might not be able to pick up on minute expressions that are ‘invisible’ to observation. If it can do that, the potential for enabling communication for many is enormous.

Emotiv Systems is releasing the EPOC headset on a limited basis to the US only from February 19th 2008, and they say it will retail at $299. That prices it lower than some assistive technology devices even at the outset, I hope someone sees the potential and runs with it!

But no, contrary to popular belief that I’ll be the first to get myself plugged into the ‘Net when neural interfaces become a reality, I’m not going to run out and buy one of these just yet.

It doesn’t come in purple
BBC News Online has an article here.

Oddly, The Register hasn’t found it yet!