Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments
Search

News for nerds, stuff that matters

Slashdot Log In

Log In

Create Account  |  Retrieve Password

Brain Controlled Virtual World for the Disabled

Posted by Zonk on Tue Jun 26, 2007 06:39 PM
from the you-know-you're-thinking-metaverse dept.
Biotech Entertainment Games Science
Galactic_grub writes "New Scientist Tech has a story about a virtual world that paralyzed patients can explore using their thoughts. The set-up connects a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) to virtual reality so that a person can 'walk' through it, simply by thinking of moving their legs or their left or right hand. Electrodes are attached to their scalp and electroencephalogram (EEG) readings are used to navigate, or control an avatar. The story includes a video of the experiment."
+ -
story
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

Brain Controlled Virtual World for the Disabled 25 Comments More /

 Full
 Abbreviated
 Hidden
More
Loading... please wait.
  • Yes, commercialize the research please..

    We've been hearing about this technology for years now.

    Get the invention out of the lab and into the hands of people who need it.

    There's disable people out there living terribly poor quality lives.. they could be playing WoW.

    • There's disable people out there living terribly poor quality lives.. they could be playing WoW.

      Cool, then they can die of starvation without even noticing! Dr. Kevorkian, is that you?

    • There's disable people out there living terribly poor quality lives.. they could be playing WoW.

      Charles Dickens called. He wants Scrooge's misanthropy back.

  • Lets get real (Score:5, Insightful)

    by EmbeddedJanitor (597831) on Tuesday June 26 2007, @06:52PM (#19656519)
    My wife spent a while caring for paraplegics and helping them to adjust. Most of these were young males hurt in mining accidents. Being able to have fantasies about walking is probably low on their agenda and probably serves little useful purpose. Being able to have realistic sex play is probably far more desirable and beneficial to the their health and wellbeing.

    • Being able to have realistic sex play is probably far more desirable and beneficial to the their health and wellbeing.

      You're probably right. When I was a fledgling nerd who couldn't get laid, I still cybersex0red, because it was better than nothing.

      On the other hand, my tackle was in working order, so at least I could occupy myself when I was done. Yeah, that's it, when I was done.

      </tmi>

    • Actually, it makes me wonder. Bear in mind that I'm taking wild guesses here, though.

      For a start there was this other piece of research some time ago about how playing games even makes people somewhat forget about pain. As in, the physical pain kind. I don't know, it sounds fairly useful to me.

      Second, for the kind of people who'd _need_ a brain interface, I'm guessing they can't use their hands either. Maybe it's ADHD speaking, but it sounds completely fucking boring. You can't even read a book, or change T
    • Being able to have realistic sex play is probably far more desirable and beneficial to the their health and wellbeing.

      I'm pretty sure this could be used for plenty of Hentai Games over at J-List.

      *coughs*

      Not that I would know anything about that.

      • Re:Lets get real (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Original Replica (908688) on Tuesday June 26 2007, @08:31PM (#19657349) Journal
        "I know I'd rather be six feet under than lay in a bed for the next 50-70 years."

        I think that's the whole point of this tech. To give some sort of social life to those who are both immobile and without the real life support network to have a fufilling life inspite of their physical limitations. And before you knock this "social life" too much, consider how many people spend the majority of their time in WoW or EVE chatting or helping friends, completely by their own choice. I could think of nothing better for establishing a good game community than to adapt it to a demographic that would likely use the game as a primary means of social interaction. And if I only ever know them as the high level character who helped me out when I was a newbie and who is quick on the chat lines with a joke or a helpful suggestion, maybe that that would be just fine with someone who is unable to be helpful or chatty IRL.
        • What do I care for your suffering? Pain, even agony, is no
          more than information before the senses, data fed to the
          computer of the mind. The lesson is simple: you have received
          the information, now act on it. Take control of the input and
          you shall become master of the output.

          -- Chairman Sheng-ji Yang,
          "Essays on Mind and Matter"

          (another Alpha Centauri quote)
          • I hope you realize how absurd it is to compare WoW with laying in bed for the rest of your life, unable to move.

            Perhaps one problem is that you don't get the bigger picture. If you can control a character with your mind, you can control a vehicle, say, an electric scooter, or a voice synthesizer.

            This is ignoring the fact that this research isn't about MMORPGs. Aside from the obvious socialization benefits, you could also utilize it as a tutor, a virtual lab, etc. Who knows how many Hawkings-level inte
      • It's funny how so many people who actually are disabled [notdeadyet.org] disagree with you.
          • Did I say you did? I'm simply pointing out that you, as far as your post goes, have no frame of reference, and many disabled people(I would go so far as most, given the lack of widespread suicide and the lack of support for PAS in the group) fervently want to live. Deriding the important efforts to benefit those stricken by such problems(and this is more than MMORPGs for quadriplegics; think vehicle control and tele-presence technologies) in favor of simply killing them is short-sighted.

            Besides, legal e
              • Please point out where I have ever advocated killing anyone.
                Are you not aware of the meaning of the term suicide? Assisted suicide is someone actively working to help kill another person.

                Yeah, giving people the freedom to chooce is such a horribly slippery slope.
                In this case, there is clear historical precedence of government-led violation of human rights. The US has horribly mistreated disabled people in the past century. The Germans took it to a new level, of course. Those are just the cases I know
  • Hmm. This reminds me of Mr. Ng from Snow Crash. Could be interesting.
  • This is going to be good for some people, but what happens when these people take of the electrodes and discover they still can't walk. I would think it would make them worse.

    However, this is a step in the right direction. If we can read and interpret instructions through EEG good enough to control an avatar, how far away can we be from using these same thoughts to control robotic limbs?
    • Why not use this same data to control an actual robot comparable to Honda's Asimo? Sure, the reliability of it is probably terrible right now, but the machine could be made to filter out random fidgeting signals (similar to what's done with micro-surgical equipment today to cancel surgeons' normal trembling), well enough to have a mobile viewpoint in the real world with cameras, microphones, and speakers. Better than nothing.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by paleo2002 (1079697)
        Even more simply, this kind of brain-machine interface could be used to control motorized prosthetic hands and arms. As I understand, amputees currently rely on flexing their shoulder muscles, for example, to controlled a motorized hand. More capabilities could be added to these devices if controlling them becomes easier.

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Garrett Fox (970174)
          Yeah. I don't have the link on me at the moment, but DARPA recently announced an impressive new prosthetic arm prototype with plans to build an even beter one. Apparently it's got a two-way connection, with tactile feedback to the nervous system. Great!
    • Wtf? "discover they still can't walk"? What the hell are you on? I'm thinking this wouldn't be some sudden revelation to them.

    • This is going to be good for some people, but what happens when these people take of the electrodes and discover they still can't walk. I would think it would make them worse.

      IANAP, but when I play a with a flight simulator for a few hours, the last thing I want is to fly an actual plane. Same for sex, kind of, so I'd say, if as a paraplegic you took a 4 hour walk in Oblivion or the countryside of San Andreas, you'd want to take an actual walk less than before you started playing, mainly if you use your b

  • oh shit (Score:4, Funny)

    by jollyreaper (513215) on Tuesday June 26 2007, @07:49PM (#19657053)
    Yeah, this seems all kewl and shit now, but just wait until they get put into these pepperpot things with plungers on the end, we'll be in for it then! "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"

  • Atari Mindlink? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by CyberZCat (821635) on Tuesday June 26 2007, @08:05PM (#19657153)
    This reminds me of a gaming console that Atari worked on in the mid-1980s called the Atari Mindlink, very similar concept except it used infrared sensors to measure the movement of the muscles in your head.

    http://www.atarimuseum.com/videogames/consoles/260 0/mindlink.html [atarimuseum.com]
  • Invest in a holodiction support clinic.

    • This thing is going to become the norm before too long

      Before too long compared to what? The lifespan of a human? Not likely, it'll probably be another 5 or 6 years before it gets into the homes of disabled people, much less a normal person. It'll probably be at least a decade before it becomes commonplace in homes without someone who can't use another input device. However, if this turns out to be like speech recognition in accuracy and speed, it may take closer to 20 or 30 years.

      So unless you're comparing the timespan to the age of the earth, or the age

All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective owners. Comments are owned by the Poster. The Rest © 1997-2009 Geeknet, Inc.