Technabob » biofeedback

MyndPlay Helps Cool Fiery Tempers Everywhere

Range — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:00:51 +0000

The saying goes that cooler heads will prevail, and that is especially true when it comes down to any kind of gaming. No matter how angry or frustrated you get, you always play better calm. The MyndPlay headset will force you to cool down, and has been use as such to staunch unwanted behavior.

MyndPlay is capable of reading your own state of mind, thanks to monitoring your brain’s electrical signals, and uses this feedback to control a series of computer games. Get too stressed out and you’ll fail. Stay calm, and you win. Manchester City, an English Premiership football team, is going to test headsets similar to these to cool down their hot-tempered players. They hope that this will improve their behavior on and off the football pitch because it requires users to remain calm.

MyndPlay might be able to train people to use their minds more effectively, and not to lose their cool so much. Only time will tell how useful these headsets really are. The MyndPlay Brainband is available now for £129 ($210USD) and the NeuroSky headset will be available soon for £99 ($162 USD).

[via Ubergizmo]

How Stressed Are You? Your Mouse Could Tell You

Hazel Chua — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 11:30:20 +0000

Most jobs nowadays require at least an hour or so at the computer, whether it’s to type a report or send out an email to a colleague in another office. And when you’re using the computer, you’re also more or less using a mouse along with it (unless you just use laptops and are contented with moving the cursor around with just the touchpad.)

But how would you like it if your computer mouse could do more than just let you click or drag and drop objects on your screen? Researchers from the Tokyo Metropolitan University have come up with a device that’s just about the size of a computer mouse that can tell you just how stressed you are. In fact, they’ve actually built a prototype version inside of a mouse.

It does so by bouncing off infrared light off of your fingers and measuring the bloodflow in your digits. It then analyzes the variations in your circulation. Bloodflow itself isn’t what determines if you’re stressed or not, but a correlation actually exists between the stability of your cardiac rhythm and the amount of certain stress-related hormones in your body.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Who knows, we just might see this technology incorporated into the computer mice of tomorrow. Although personally, I wouldn’t want to know how stressed I am, as it would just probably stress me out even more if I found out.

[DigInfo.TV via Oh Gizmo!]

Negomimi: Mind-Controlled Cat Ears – Uh, Yeah.

Technabob — Fri, 06 May 2011 02:50:27 +0000

Despite the hardships and tragedies that Japan has had to endure of late, it hasn’t stopped them from occasionally taking time out from rebuilding their great nation to do something fun – like create a headband with cat ears you can control with your brain waves. Yep, Japan is on the mend.

Tokyo is making its comeback and starting to crank out the wacky tech once again. The Necomimi is a bit of funny-looking headgear from a company called Neurowear [JP], and it’s the first in what they hope will be a long line of mind-controlled fashion accessories. Yep, they definitely need to release a brainwave tail to go with these. Here, check them out in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

As you can see, the ears automatically respond to your thoughts, perking up when you’re concentrating, then laying down when you’re chilling out. Or, as the video example shows, they perk up when you eat a donut, and get all depressed when you come to the realization that you have no more delicious chocolate-covered donuts.

[via Japan Trends via CrunchGear]

Mindflex Duel Lets You Challenge Your Friends to a Battle of Brainpower

Chris B. — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:52:45 +0000

Games are better when you can beat someone at them, right? That Mindflex game that came out a couple of years ago looked pretty cool, right? I mean, who doesn’t want to play a game that uses the power of your thoughts? Heck, there was even a Star Wars version, because the whole idea does kind of sound like you’re using the Force to play. Well, now you can take that game a whole new level by going head-to-head (literally) with a friend.

The Mindflex Duel is a two-player version of the original game. Both players control a single side of the field, and the idea is to see who can move their ball through the obstacles and onto the other side first.

$100 makes for an expensive toy, but who wouldn’t want the chance to prove to your friends that you have a stronger brain?

[via ChipChick]

Hims Brain Hubi Claims to Relax Your Mind, Improve Your Memory, Help You Concentrate, End World Hunger, Visualize Whirled Peas

Technabob — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 20:53:15 +0000

This little USB gadget from Korea makes some pretty lofty claims. Not only will it help you chill out, it could help you memorize Pi to 100,000 digits, or might turn you into the next Rembrandt. Or Obama.

The HIMS Brain HUBI biofeedback device plugs into your computer, and interactively monitors electrical impulses from your fingertips to help you control your brain into the proper state of mind to accomplish nearly anything. Now how it does this without actually attaching to your scalp, I have no idea. I’ll leave that to the scientists and snake oil salesmen to explain.

The included software lets you choose from a variety of profiles including relaxation, creativity, memory and concentration. Unfortunately modes for Jedi mind trick, levitation and that head-slashing thing that Sylar does with his fingertips aren’t included. Maybe they’ll get those working in a future model.

As you think, you do your darnedest to coordinate your brain waves with the graphs displayed on the screen. Think of it like mind-controlled Guitar Hero. Damn, that sounds like a good idea for a game – I’d better patent that.

If you want to find out exactly how much the HUBI lives up to its promises, you’ll have to exchange aboutt $206 (USD) cash for KRW 290,000 then order one from Korea to try one out. At this point, there are no plans to bring the device to North America or Europe.

[via Early Adopter]

The Brain Machine Will Make Your Head Spin

Technabob — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:23:03 +0000

The guys over at MAKE recently showed visitors how to make a “Brain Machine”, a trippy looking device which reaches into your mind and helps you to chill out. Now, thanks to the miracle of modern science, you can buy one in kit form and try it on for yourself.

The Brain Machine Kit comes from the mind of Mitch Altman, the same guy responsible for the deliciously devious TV-B-Gone remote control.

Just slip on the Brain Machine’s meditation glasses and headphones, close your eyelids, tune in, turn on and drop out. A hacked version of Adafruit’s Mini-POV microcontroller kit pulses the Brain Machine’s LEDs and sound generators to sync your noggin up with beta, alpha, theta, and delta brainwaves.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

As the device and your brain get on the same page, you be lulled into a trance-like state. (or maybe an acid-trip-like state, depending on how you feel about these things). Ready to take a trip? The Brain Machine Kit is now available from the MakerSHED for $34.99.

Brain Controlled Synthesizer Plays What You’re Thinking

Technabob — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:10:28 +0000

I found this photo over on Flickr today, and I was so captivated, I had to mention it. Apparently, this guy decided to see what would happen if he hooked an old analog synthesizer up to his brain.

By connecting a biofeedback helmet to a 1970s E-mu matrix synth, the device should able to generate sounds just by thinking about them. Given the age of the synthesizer, I’m pretty sure that it ignores thoughts of anything besides Tangerine Dream or Wendy (Walter) Carlos.

Now comes the bad news. While it sure looks cool, it seems that Krischall’s image is actually just a good bit of Photoshoppery, based on this original image.