This page lists articles from publications which show how the unclassified "thought reading world" is gradually catching up with classfied thought reading equipment:
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http://www.mindmouse.com/ The Cyberlink Mind Mouse:
Hands-Free, Brain-Wave Control for your Computer
The Cyberlink Mind Mouse
What is it?
The Cyberlink Mind Mouse is a revolutionary hands-free
computer controller which allows you to move and click a
mouse cursor, play video games, create music, and control
external devices, all without using your hands.
How does it work?
A headband with three sensors detects electrical signals on
the forehead resulting from subtle facial muscle, eye, and
brain activity. This headband connects to an interface box
which amplifies and digitizes the forehead signals and sends
them to your computer. The Cyberlink software decodes the
forehead signals into ten BrainFingers for continuous cursor
control. It also decodes eye motion and facial gestures into
mouse button clicks, keystrokes, and cursor resolution
control. With a little practice, most or all of these
commands can be mastered to operate virtually all computer
functions.
I can do what...?
By learning to change the energy levels of your BrainFingers,
you will be able to do just about anything on a computer,
except turn it on! The Cyberlink Mind Mouse supports
hands-free mouse, keyboard and joystick cursor control,
switch closure, video game control, and music and art
synthesis.
...and it works with my software?
The Cyberlink Mind Mouse features a Windows 95 Mouse Driver
for hands-free control of third party software like games,
business software, Internet browsers, and a range of
assistive technologies, such as the X-10 Home Controller and
special needs word- processing and communication software,
including WiVik2, Words Plus, and Clicker Plus.
What kind of computer does it take?
The Cyberlink Mind Mouse has the following PC requirements:
Pentium Processor
16 MB RAM
20 MB Disk Space
VGA or better Display
Windows 95
What comes with the Mind Mouse?
The Cyberlink Mind Mouse consists of the following
components:
Cyberlink Interface Unit
Cyberlink Headband/Sensor Harness with 3 Sensors
Cybergel
Cyber Trainer Software
Windows 95 "Mouse" Driver
Cables
User manual
How much is it?
The Cyberlink Mind Mouse is priced at $1495.00 (US$) plus
shipping. Free upgrades are included for one year.
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The Times, Sept 2, 1996 p14 (1)
Title:the power of thought (innovations for paraplegics)
Author: anjana ahuja
abstract:
Peter Gannicott, 36 yr old UK paraplegic who cannot speak ,
as a result of a motorcycle accident in 1982 , might be able
to activate his computer and other devices by thinking if
neurosurgery is successful. London university's Emeritus
Professor of Physiology, giles Brindley, ad the Radcliffe's
Hospital 's chief neurosurgeon, Peter Teddy, have conceived a
way whereby signals produced by electrodes over the brain
should be able to operate a computer.
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SIGHTINGS
Implants Can Now Allow Humans To Control Computers
By Nigel Hawkes
Science Editor
The Times (London)
www.the-times.co.uk
AN AMERICAN scientist has entered the world of science
fiction by implanting electrodes in the brains of disabled
people so that they can control a computer by the power of
thought.
The implants have enabled two paralysed people to move the
cursor on the screen simply by thinking about moving part of
their body. They were able to convey messages such as "I'm
thirsty" or "please turn off the light" by pointing the
cursor at different icons.
The hope is that eventually patients will be able to
communicate complex ideas just by thinking about them. "If
you can run a computer, you can talk to the world," Dr Ray
Bakay of Emory University in Atlanta, whose team developed
the implants, said.
A number of laboratories around the world are working on
brain implants, but the only devices licensed for use so far
are bionic ears for the profoundly deaf and chips which can
control the tremor caused by Parkinson's disease.
The Emory implants go much further. They consist of two
hollow glass cones, each the size of a ballpoint pen tip,
placed into the brain's motor cortex, which controls body
movements. The cones are covered in chemicals that encourage
nerve growth, extracted from the patient's knees. Once
installed, nerve cells grow into the cones and attach
themselves to tiny electrodes inside.
The location of each cone is determined by monitoring the
patient's brain using scanners and identifying the most
active regions. Once the cones are in place and surrounded by
nerve cells, the patient is asked to think about moving some
part of the body, and signals from the electrodes are picked
up by a small transmitter-receiver, amplified, and used to
control a computer. Depending upon which nerves grow into the
cones, each patient may have to think about moving a
different part of the body to achieve the same effect.
They are trained by listening to a buzzer which becomes
faster and louder when they are thinking along the right
lines. Dr Bakay says that controlling the cursor soon
becomes second nature.
The first two patients, New Scientist reports, were a woman
with motor neuron disease, who was given the implants 18
months ago and has since died, and a 57-year-old man
paralysed by a stroke.
They were taught very simple commands, with one cone being
used to move the cursor up and down and the other from left
to right. If they could give more complex commands, disabled
people could use them to make the computer speak for them. Dr
Bakay warns that this could still be years off. But he has
secured funding from the US National Institutes of Health to
continue the research with three more patients.
The British Telecom laboratories near Ipswich have also done
research into implantable chips, including a possible memory
chip which would take data from the eye and store it for a
computer. "There is a raft of wonderful benefits to bringing
chips and circuits inside human beings," said Dr Peter
Cochrane, head of research.
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Communicating with 'thought power'
"Bionic brain implants allowing a computer to be operated
by the power of thought, have been developed by American
scientists," reports BBC News. Read all about it here:
http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/
sci/tech/newsid_193000/193946.stm
The BBC report states that "the [brain] implant becomes
naturally 'wired' into the patient's brain as neurones grow
into the cones and attach themselves to the electrodes
mounted inside," and that "An FM transmitter under the scalp
transmits the signal without wires, and...no batteries," to
operate the cursor on a computer... hard to believe!
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