Minds game for the future
Think the Wii’s the coolest thing ever? New mind-reading technology may soon allow gamers to throw fireballs and kill demons without lifting a finger. The headset, called Project Epoc, is the first brain-computer interface that detects human emotion and thoughts. Using non-invasive electroencephalography, or EEG, the system distinguishes between the non-conscious emotions we experience and the conscious goals of rotating or throwing an object. The software can then be programmed to interpret and respond to emotion by mimicking a smile in an on-screen avatar, or in the case of goal-driven thoughts, by attacking an in-game nemesis. Four-year-old company Emotiv Systems premiered this technology for game developers at Wednesday’s Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco. The technology may be able to change the way we interact with our computers and televisions, and may have applications for medicine and security.
Source: emotiv.com
Asimo’s dodgy new tricks
Nearly a decade old, Honda’s Asimo robot has fallen into the hands of Carnegie Mellon University robotics researcher James Kuffner. When Asimo reached Kuffner, the humanoid robot could already run, jump, and climb stairs, but was either remote-controlled or had its intricate movements preprogrammed. Kuffner added software that, without enhancing any of Asimo’s physical abilities, allows the robot to autonomously navigate a shifting and unpredictable obstacle course-which, in his experiments, were made of pieces of paper. With the help of an overhead camera, the software builds a map of both Asimo’s and the moving obstacle’s speeds and trajectories. It calculates all possible ways for Asimo to avoid moving obstacles, each second computing up to 7,000 possible steps that Asimo could take. Kuffner’s next step is to put Asimo through an Indiana Jones-inspired experiment, with descending spinning blades and rolling boulders included.
Source: New Scientist
-Sandy Huen
