OSDev.org

came across an interesting link http://www.ibva.com/.

The IBVA System allows the attachment of multimedia triggers to the realtime frequency and voltage data of brain waves. It also allows advanced users/developers to access the raw data in order to add their own processing techniques.

Could be an interesting input device for a next generation operating system, control a mouse pointer, or replace a keyboard, etc.

As this is a OS development / design forum, I thought I would put this out there. Any interesting ideas how this technology could be used?

Are you insane?

I'm not shoving a USB cable into my head!

wat i dont get is what can you do with this data? i dont know about brain patterns and waves

elias wrote: wat i dont get is what can you do with this data? i dont know about brain patterns and waves

Well, for example, the US military has been experimenting with allowing pilot to control certain functions of their planes using thought instead of traditional control methods (The joys of the Discovery channel ).

Basically it runs like this. Someone thinks of turning left, and 30 or so sensors stuck to their head monitor the change in brainwave activity and a copmuter makes the decision that they are thinking of turning left. Needless to say this is not an exact science. A comparison could be made with very early voice recognition software. Plus of course the computer isn't actually reading their mind, it's comparing the brainwave pattern to a numerous amount of previous patterns gathered when the person was thinking left (ie it's deduction by comparison).

To get this to work on a average user level you need to overcome two main things.

a) It has to operate unobtrosively (Do you really want to stick on electrodes before you use the computer? ).

b) It has to be accurate (Nobody needs to think of opening their mail and the computer deleting it).

Needless to say it will be a long time, if ever, before the technology becomes viable. To put this in context some of the most widely respected visionaries thought we'd be using voice recognition techology instead of keyboards by now and the computing industry is still years away from making that happen.

In a nutshell, it's a nice dream, but it's not practical or achievable by anyone who doesn't have a great deal of patience and several university research departments working for them.

Tom, you don't shove a cable into you head... well not yet

The product comes as a headband, with a transmitter built in. You plug the receiver into the computer. There is a one channel version (allows cumulative readouts of left and right hemispheres), and a two channel version (allows separate readouts of left and right hemispheres). http://www.ibva.com/IBVAImages/IBVAShot-d.gif

As an example of some of the software which have been successfully controlled by this technology http://www.ibva.com/IBVADocs2/LoveTrainADV.html

Well, someone already thought of it! found this link on the site, MindOS, http://www.ibva.com/IBVA%20docs/MindOS.html.

This is the technology of the future!

I think it's great, but they might be planning to use it in aircraft, to give an advantage in war, which is a very bad thing. They probably are already testing it on strategic bombers.

But i still think its cool ;D Are any OS's distributed using this??

Ciao ;D

Berserk, just out of Interest, do you only read the subject lines before you post? Or are you just a very bad skim reader?

Curufir already mentioned,

Well, for example, the US military has been experimenting with allowing pilot to control certain functions of their planes using thought instead of traditional control methods (The joys of the Discovery channel ).

I also read somewhere that pilots could aim at a target by looking at it.

And I gave a link to an OS which uses this technology (just above your post), MindOS.

Yeh i know, i'm just plain lazy

Jokin', sorry i just didn't read them all, i wasn't in the mood ;D

Cya

Actually, what i mean by os's being distributed is: Can they be bought? Are they on the OS market?

Just correctin myself ;D

The kit comes with the hardware (transmitter / receiver ), and Software for windows. It's just a device you plug in, so any OS with the correct drivers can use it.

Thanks, i didn't know ;D

I still think it's insanity.

How do we expect to make a OS with the brain...it's like trying to make a slow (compared to the brain) 2ghz computer read something that's going at 9999999999999999 THz( the brain)?

Also, how can we make a OS that understands the brain when a single brain cell is as powerfull as 50 stories of computer?