We’re expanding our team with 2 new positions in 2012, and what better way to start off the year than by joining the world renowned InteraXon staff!
If you are technically savvy; a seasoned developer; good with tight deadlines; an expert at project management; and like working with a team of fun creative people who happen to be the best in their field…keep reading after the jump to learn more and how to apply!
One beauty in the design of BCI projects is the “learning” part of the project – the process of machine learning is one of the most compelling discussion topics we see in this field. How do we get the computer and the brain to operate synergistically? While you might not succeed at teaching a machine how to do your holiday shopping this year, here’s some interesting BCI news we received lately from the UK.
1/ GeekCon 2011: What can you do with an Emotiv EPOC headset?
Some highlights from the seventh annual GeekCon, the exclusive creative gathering run by three Israeli technology entrepreneurs — Ilan Graicer, Eden Shochat, and Nimrod Lehavi – were published in the December 2011 issue of Wired Magazine (UK) this week. Nimrod (pictured), a software developer, played around with the Emotiv EPOC headset.
What he found: After writing a program to capture Emotiv’s outputs as keystrokes on a laptop and transmitting them as commands connected to a remote and toy car, the circuitry could handle simple directions (forward, back, left, right). The system had trouble distinguishing particular emotions, but an “I hate you” - caused the car to speed away. Lesson? Road rage might help out with hands-free commuting.
Other tech projects that explored out-of-the-box thinking included: robots that shoot tomatoes, and a beer cooler you play like an instrument. See for yourself here.
2/ Simulation-based model of a limb on motor imagery BCI reveals insight into BCI use for paralysed individuals
In the social discussions that take place on the web around this field, we’re always listening to what bright curious minds are getting up to. Recently, a student from The University of the West of England shared with us his EEG based BCI research out of Bristol. And sharing is caring!
It is understood that similar brain areas are activated when a physical movement is watched, as when it is being made by the same individual. The firing of these “mirror neurons” (used in Ramachandran’s Mirror Neuron Therapy on paralysed individuals), inspired a novel pilot study at UWE. Using the BCI2VR system developed by Dr. Ou Bi, the team tested the effect of a simulated limb on motor imagery-based BCI. Participants were provided with an identical moving arm rather than their own, and it created a faster and more accurate EEG model of their motor imagery.
The application? “If the results of the experiment are valid, then we could have a very simple and inexpensive way of training paralysed individuals to use a BCI”. Simon Oxenham contributes to the Neurobonkers blog, and the full research report is available here.
To wrap up the news, keep an eye out for InteraXon at Macau IT Week!
A video has appeared of a group of hackers who claim to have created a brainwave-to-siri interface that can recognize 25 individual commands with just a few electrodes on the forehead.
A still from Project Black Mirror's hoax video
This video is a hoax (and I’ll explain why at the end of this post) but unfortunately that won’t stop it from being widely reported and believed as fact. The media is all too easily fooled where brain-computer interface technology is concerned. For some reason, whenever a story involves brainwaves, reporters turn off their BS detectors.
This is why we are so careful, in our dealings with the media, to speak accurately about the potential of this technology, and to be candid about its limitations. Any slight misrepresentation will be echoed and amplified as the story propagates through the social web.
We have to work incredibly hard to get accurate information about EEG into the world, struggling against the innacurate and negatively stereotyped images of science fiction that have convinced people that we are either evil geniuses looking to steal people’s thoughts or miracle workers able to know the unknowable.
Lieutenant Tom Paris experiences a negatively stereotyped brain-computer interface in Star Trek: Voyager
While the perpetrators of this hoax are probably having a great laugh at the credulous horde of bloggers reposting this story, what these “jokers” fail to understand is how this hoax damages that work of thousands of hard-working entrepreneurs and researchers around the world who are working to bring this disruptive technology to the market.
Because of this hoax, and its inevitable viral spread, the first five minutes of every conversation I have about thought-controlled computing is going to be spent debunking this video, and trying to roll back the expectations. Every time I sit down with an investor, a potential partner or a reporter, I am going to have to carefully deconstruct the impossible expectations this video has created in their head.
In the movie Firefox, Clint Eastwood flies a plane that responds to mental commands -- in russian!
But my inconvenience is nothing compared to the anguish caused in families who have a loved one in a ‘locked-in’ or vegetative state. A hoax like this gives them false hope, as they dream of getting their father or sister back, only to find out later that this technology is still years away. Toying with people’s emotions in this way is grossly unacceptable.
So now let me turn to the matter at hand: Debunking Project Black Mirror
There are many problems with this project, from inaccurate statements about EEG, obviously inoperable circuits, impossible claims and more. I’ll break the down here:
Typical brainwave (EEG) recordings in various conscious states.
On the Project Black Mirror page, they say the following:
1. ECG pads provide raw skin conductivity / electrical activity as analogue data (0-5v).
2. This is plugged into the Arduino board via 4 analogue inputs (no activity = 0v, high activity = 5v).
This is problematic for a number of reasons. First, and most obviously, ECG stands for Electrocardiography, which is the measurement of the electrical activity of the heart. EEG is Electroencephalography, which is the measurement of the electrical activity of the brain.
Second, they describe, and the pictures show them plugging the sensors into the arduino directly, and measuring the signals as 0v-5v. Unfortunately, EEG signals are measured in microvolts. They must be amplified using very sensitive, low-noise amplifiers before they can be converted into digital signals. There is no way they could detect any meaningful brainwave signals through that setup.
A close-up of the circuit board reveals that the SpeakJet chip isn't connected to anything.
One of the most obvious giveaways that this is a fake is the picture of their circuit board. Anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of electronics can see that they have placed the Speech Synthesis chip onto the breadboard sideways. As pictured, the chip is entirely non-functional. All of the pins are shorted to each other. This has been pointed out in other places around the net.
Again from Project Black Mirror:
4. Josh trained the program by thinking of the main Siri commands (“Call”, “Set”, “Diary” etc.) one at a time and the program where we captured the signature brain patterns they produce.
5. The program can detect the signature patterns that indicate a certain word is being thought of. The program will then wait for a natural ‘release’ in brain waves and assume the chain of commands is now complete and action is required.
This is where things get really ridiculous.
To understand this we should talk about what is possible with brainwaves. There are a number of signals that can be detected from the head.
The Neurosky MindWave is a commercially available single sensor EEG headset.
With a single electrode, you can detect the basic types of brainwaves (alpha, beta, theta and delta) which are different frequency bandwidths in the electrical output of the brain. Sort of like radio stations occupy different frequencies in the spectrum. This electrical energy is generated by the electro-chemical activity of your neurons, which encode information in tiny electrical impusles.
All of the primary brainwaves are present in your brain all of the time, but different waves will be stronger when you have particular types of thoughts. For instance, there will be stronger alpha waves in your brain when you are relaxing, and stronger beta waves when you are concentrating.
These alpha and beta waves are what most consumer EEG technology is based on. Consumer grade EEG applications, like the applications created for the Neurosky Mindwave, are for the most part based around interactions that measure the users levels of alpha and beta waves. Some sleep and meditation applications study theta and delta waves too.
The most advanced system available at the consumer level is the eMotiv EPOC, which has 16 sensors. The eMotiv operates similarly to how the hoax system is supposed to, in that the user is asked to think a certain thought a number of times, and the emotiv algorithms learn to recognize patters of EEG activity that correlate to those thoughts. But even with 16 sensors and advanced processing, they are only able to repeatedly recognize about 4 commands at a time, and this is after millions of dollars spent and years of research by some of the top minds in EEG processing.
The emotiv EPOC can recognize multiple commands
Also, the types of thoughts that are recognized by systems like the eMotiv system are limited to very specific types of thoughts, particularly thoughts about moving objects in space (i.e. push, pull, etc.) A complex thought like “Call” or “John” may eventually be detectable, but that kind of detection is at least 15 years away.
The idea that this system is able to decipher the full command “Call John” is completely unbelievable, especially considering that the system appears to only have 4 electrodes that are all located on the front of the head.
So there you can see: this “hack” is revealed as a hoax, and one that is as disappointing as it is clumsy.
At InteraXon, we wholly believe in brainwave-based technologies. We see a world where computers understand and respond to human thoughts and behaviours in ways that make us happier, smarter and more efficient. We see EEG-based interfaces as tools for self-knowledge that will allow us to know ourselves better so that we can live more fulfilled and engaged lives. We want to bring these technologies to market in products that become essential parts of people’s everyday lives.
Hoaxes like Project Black Mirror make it that much harder for us to realize our vision. If you care about, believe in and support this technology, then please help us. Spread the news that this is a hoax. Share links of the real progress that is being made in BCI technology. Like the adorable and captivating Neurowear Necomimi EEG responsive ears, or the astonishing news that EEG technology can determine whether patients in vegetative states are still conscious or not.
The NeuroWear Necomimi Ears are one of the most captivating (and adorable) uses of EEG technology to date.
Help us share these stories about what really is possible with EEG technology and we’ll keep working hard to make sure that there are more amazing stories to share.
-Trevor Coleman (@trevorcoleman)
With impermanence and change happening daily in our world and ourselves – we take a look into our changing world of technology to give you some more exciting news in the realm of BCI. This week: a 3D controlled virtual environment using BCI, and the possibility of developing a real life Iron Man suit!
1/ BCI Steers Helicopter Through a Virtual World
If you thought seeing the movie Avatar in 3D was a ride, imagine how cool it would be to participate in your own virtual world! This month, a team of neuroscientist engineers led by Dr. Bin He at the University of Minnesota have successfully created a brain-computer interface that allows users to navigate a machine through a virtual 3D environment.
We’ve recently touched on virtual gaming BCI, but never before have tasks involved incredibly accurate 3D control without the use of invasive brain electrodes. Using a sensorimotor rhythm from EEG sensors, subjects were trained with left/right arm, leg, tongue and rest imaginations to move a helicopter through a series of rings on a computer screen.
Watch the video yourself to see what happened to the helicopter when you imagine moving parts of your body, and read the full study here.
2/ Iron Man Suit Could Become Reality in 30 Years
High-tech suits – similar to the comic and Hollywood blockbuster hit Iron Man are already in the research and development phase, according to a neuroscientist from the University of Victoria. In UVic News, Dr. Paul Zehr, professor and author of the just-released book Inventing Iron Man: The Possibility of a Human Machine, envisions a bionic suit that can help humans recover motor functions after experiencing debilitating physical injuries.
Keeping moral and ethical implications in mind about brain-computer interfaces, Zehr is bridging the fantasy of superhero comics and the innovations of real-life scientists.
For more information about finding your inner superhero, check out his other book Becoming Batman: The Possibility of a Superhero, and visit his homepage at www.zehr.ca
Also this week, InteraXon is in New York City creating all kinds of buzz…
What’s so cool about working at InteraXon is the constant access to new and exciting research in thought-controlled computing and neuroscience. Twice a month, it’s our pleasure to bring you the highlights. This week: monkeys sense textures through virtual limbs, neurons sport their sweet spots, and YouTube meets brain-computer interfacing.
It’s official. TEDx Toronto was an absolute delight for InteraXon CEO Ariel Garten.
Last Friday, Ariel delivered her speech at the convention, which was extremely well received by fellow Ted Talkers. Her presentation included a real-time Projection Mapping demo that allowed the audience to literally see her brainwaves in action. But the fun wasn’t limited to the podium. After the speech, Ariel spent the entire lunch hour engaging with a crowd of people interested in sharing their thoughts on TCC’s potential to connect us with a deeper part of ourselves.
“This was a bit of a different talk for me,” Ariel admits in an post-TED e-mail. “Normally I talk about the technology, how it works, the history, our partners in the space, and the kinds of things people have been controlling with this technology. I always end off with what is important to me – that this technology’s most interesting application is to help you know the self.” The talk was unique for Ariel because it dealt completely with this last point. And this really hit home with the TEDxTO crowd.
When the time came to let loose at the after party, Ariel couldn’t walk two steps without encountering a friendly new face, ready to chat about the solutions we create at our lab. So here it is – a huge, warm THANK YOU to everyone who participated in TEDx last weekend and made it so much fun for us at InteraXon. Please stay connected through Twitter and Facebook. See you next year!
(Warning: Delightful humor within)
At the beginning of 2011, Jeremy Bailey was approached by InteraXon to create a piece of BCI drawing software using a Neurosky headset. The software was developed, tested, and presented for a performance at The New Museum in June as ‘Thought Controlled Drawing’.
It’s hard to separate Jeremy Bailey’s ‘Peter Parker’ from his performance artist alter-ego. By day, Bailey is an Art Director for a software company. By night, Bailey flies under the radar as a famous new media artist, showcasing his work to audiences and museums around the world. Frequently performing with programs his ‘Peter Parker’ has created, his work humorously discusses the affects of technology, and the often absurd relationship between technology and the body.
Continue reading
If you follow us on Twitter, you know that this Friday InteraXon CEO Ariel Garten is set to take the stage at Toronto’s TEDx conference. TED Talks are about spreading powerful ideas that change the way we think about ourselves and the world. All talks at this year’s TEDx Toronto will hinge on the theme of Redefinition.
Ariel’s speech will focus on how thought-controlled computing may work to help us understand the self. Her presentation is geared up to include the world’s first live brainwave-wave Projection Mapping. It’s scheduled for 12:30pm, so be sure to hit the conference’s website for a live stream. Check back here after the weekend for a wrap-up post, and feel free to reach out on Twitter and Facebook while we cover the conference!
Over the past couple of weeks, the internet has been buzzing with talk of a wireless semiconductor skin sticker that monitors heart beats, muscle contractions and – you guessed it – brain waves. Heck, we’ve even Tweeted about it. But lately, our team here at InteraXon has been chatting more and more about this thinner-than-thin “tattoo” interface, meditating on the doors it could open for BCI applications. Why? It’s unobtrusive. If a similar concept is applied to BCI, it could mean huge leaps in user comfort.
Developed by the highly creative researchers at the University of Illinois (alongside their other colleagues in the US, Singapore, and China) the “Epidermal Electronics” patch houses a maze of ribbon-like circuitry including a tiny EEG setup. Like a temporary tattoo, it rubs onto the skin with water. What’s really cool here is the fact that the patch moves with the natural bends and wrinkles of the skin. It’s visible, but it puts no physical weight on the user. This is key when considering the device’s potential applications to the health sciences – specifically patient monitoring. But along with this, the tattoo represents another step towards the miniaturization of BCI hardware.
This week, we reached out to Professor John A. Rogers to talk a bit about time lines. “This is our first paper on this technology,” he admits in a friendly e-mail. “In that sense, it is still early days. If funding streams can be identified to support joint work, then we can provide devices to interested potential collaborators.” That means it will probably be a matter of years before a BCI applications lab like InteraXon can start to play with this kind of technology. But that’s no reason not to get excited. Commercialization, Rogers expects, will happen through a well funded start-up company called mc10, founded a couple of years ago by the U of I team. “I hope that they will be able to turn their attention to EEG related systems in the next year or two,” he adds. And we hope so too. This certainly suggests that some cool new approaches to BCI are on the horizon.
To read the original paper, click here.
Every week new research is published about the possibilities and benefits that BCI technology could bring to our lives. We’re a lot closer then ever to seeing this technology available for affordable mass consumption. From the ‘cool’, to the previously ‘impossible’, everything from video games, cures for cognitive conditions, and driver-less cars. InteraXon rounds up the highlights of whats happening in the world of brainwaves.
1/ ‘Focus Pocus’ Kids Computer Game Set To Release September 2011 Using NeuroSky Headset
This week, University of Oxford reported that the kids computer game Focus Pocus will finally be released in September 2011. This is huge news for BCI. Why? The games’ highly advanced NeuroSky headset is consumer ready, currently available at $100 or less. The game itself uses ‘focus’ orientated skills and games to treat children with various levels of ADHD. Matt Baum at Oxford has called the game “the most advanced computer game to use a consumer brain computer interface (BCI)”
Read the full article here
2/ Scientists Discover Brain Signals That Activate Mind-Reading Assisted Driving
Remember the driverless Batmobile in 1989′s ‘Batman’; a car that always seemed to know Bruce Wayne’s location, and brake, turn, or park on its own? Neurogadget and The Journal for Neural Engineering reported that scientists in Germany made a research breakthrough which could soon could bring variations of those features to your driving experience.
Researchers used to EEG and EMG electrodes to connect a test subject to a driving simulator, and then measure signals such as the intent to brake the car. According to Neurogadget: “With the resulting EEG and EMG data, the researchers were able to identify signals that occurred consistently during emergency brake response situations.”
Read the full study here
3/ InteraXon in Bloomberg
We’re creating technology experiences that will change how we interact with the world. In June of 2011 the InteraXon team welcomed Bloomberg into our downtown Toronto office for a video feature and news piece about what we do and our vision for where brain computer interfaces are going. You can watch it here. Please comment and share widely!
