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Japanese firm tests brain-controlled toys
AP Wire via CNN.com ^ | 6/22/07 | AP Wire

Posted on 06/22/2007 7:29:21 AM PDT by gridlock

HATOYAMA, Japan (AP) -- Forget the clicker: A new technology in Japan could let you control electronic devices without lifting a finger simply by reading brain activity.

The "brain-machine interface" developed by Hitachi analyzes slight changes in the brain's blood flow and translates brain motion into electric signals.

A cap connects by optical fibers to a mapping device, which links, in turn, to a toy train set via a control computer and motor during one recent demonstration at Hitachi's Advanced Research Laboratory in Hatoyama, just outside Tokyo.

(snip)

Underlying Hitachi's brain-machine interface is a technology called optical topography, which sends a small amount of infrared light through the brain's surface to map out changes in blood flow.

Although brain-machine interface technology has traditionally focused on medical uses, makers like Hitachi and Japanese automaker Honda Motor have been racing to refine the technology for commercial application.

Hitachi's scientists are set to develop a brain TV remote controller letting users turn a TV on and off or switch channels by only thinking.

(snip)

"We are thinking of various kinds of applications," project leader Hideaki Koizumi said. "Locked-in patients can speak to other people by using this kind of brain-machine interface."

snip

Any brain-machine interface device for widespread use would be "a little further down the road," Koizumi said.

He added, however, that the technology is entertaining in itself and could easily be applied to toys.

"It's really fun to move a model train just by thinking," he

(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; Japan
KEYWORDS: invention; toys
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Activating the brain's frontal cortex -- by doing sums
or singing a song -- is what makes the train run,
says a researcher.

1 posted on 06/22/2007 7:29:23 AM PDT by gridlock
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To: gridlock; Liz; indylindy; calcowgirl

They first tried using Democrat liberals, but there was no response whatsoever with the toys.


2 posted on 06/22/2007 7:32:02 AM PDT by TommyDale (Rudy Giuliani’s candidacy is fading faster than an abortionist’s conscience.)
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To: gridlock

I know nothing about this but it seems like something you could train yourself to do and improve over time.


3 posted on 06/22/2007 7:32:04 AM PDT by Pete (Run, Vaclav, run!!)
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To: gridlock

Wearing a cap with some other gang’s colors is going to cause trouble. Don’t go outside wearing this! Unless you have it linked to your handgun.


4 posted on 06/22/2007 7:32:52 AM PDT by Right Wing Assault ("..this administration is planning a 'Right Wing Assault' on values and ideals.." - John Kerry)
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To: gridlock

But do you have to think in Russian?


5 posted on 06/22/2007 7:33:43 AM PDT by Jibaholic (http://www.gentlerespect.com)
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To: gridlock
Now this would be the ultimate TV remote but it looses coolness points with its geekiness design.


6 posted on 06/22/2007 7:33:50 AM PDT by darkwing104 (Let's get dangerous)
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To: gridlock

Who’s going to be first to market this attached to sex toys?


7 posted on 06/22/2007 7:33:54 AM PDT by Right Wing Assault ("..this administration is planning a 'Right Wing Assault' on values and ideals.." - John Kerry)
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To: gridlock

Diembodied voice of Brian Kieth w/ Bad Russian Accent: "You must think in Japanese!"

Clint Eastwood: Oh, Hell! Just let me ditch this thing!

8 posted on 06/22/2007 7:34:33 AM PDT by gridlock (Vote for Edwards so Hillary can retire, dump Bill, and find love in the arms of a new man...)
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To: gridlock

Coming Soon: Brain Controlled FReeping!


9 posted on 06/22/2007 7:35:39 AM PDT by gridlock (Vote for Edwards so Hillary can retire, dump Bill, and find love in the arms of a new man...)
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To: gridlock

Jeez... I could have some fun.


10 posted on 06/22/2007 7:36:21 AM PDT by wastedyears (Check my profile for links to anti-illegal immigration T-shirts.)
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To: Right Wing Assault
Who’s going to be first to market this attached to sex toys?

Sex industries are always early adopters of new technology. Algore may have invented the Internet, but sex sites provided 90% of the early traffic!

11 posted on 06/22/2007 7:37:04 AM PDT by gridlock (Vote for Edwards so Hillary can retire, dump Bill, and find love in the arms of a new man...)
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To: gridlock

The First Generation Brain Control Unit allows the woman to control an electronic device through her brain waves.

The Second Generation Brain Control Unit allows one to control the woman's brain waves though an electronic device...

The Second Generation unit will outsell the First Generation unit 100 to 1.

12 posted on 06/22/2007 7:41:27 AM PDT by gridlock (Vote for Edwards so Hillary can retire, dump Bill, and find love in the arms of a new man...)
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To: gridlock
"Hitachi's scientists are set to develop a brain TV remote controller letting users turn a TV on and off or switch channels by only thinking."

Can you make the TV levitate? Now that would be cool.

13 posted on 06/22/2007 7:43:12 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: gridlock

That’s the one thing I didn’t get — by the time he figured out what he wanted to do, thought about it in Russian, them mumbled it for the audience, couldn’t he have simply pushed a button?


14 posted on 06/22/2007 7:47:18 AM PDT by robertpaulsen
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To: robertpaulsen
"If you have ever tried to fetch a beer from the fridge using The Force, you might be a Jedi Redneck..."
15 posted on 06/22/2007 7:47:32 AM PDT by gridlock (Vote for Edwards so Hillary can retire, dump Bill, and find love in the arms of a new man...)
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To: robertpaulsen
That’s the one thing I didn’t get — by the time he figured out what he wanted to do, thought about it in Russian, them mumbled it for the audience, couldn’t he have simply pushed a button?

It worked much better in the book. In the book he had the Russian Firefox on his tail, and was desperately wishing for a weapon that he could fire back at the pursuing plane. The Firefox interpreted his desire and deployed the decoy flares at just the right time to have them sucked into the air intakes of the pursuing plane.

This whole "thinking in Russian" thing was a movie device, because you needed a verbal cue for the viewer. But it made the whole technology make no sense.

16 posted on 06/22/2007 7:51:26 AM PDT by gridlock (Vote for Edwards so Hillary can retire, dump Bill, and find love in the arms of a new man...)
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To: gridlock
I can’t wait for this tech to get good enough so that I can trash the keyboard and mouse, that will be a good day.
17 posted on 06/22/2007 7:51:34 AM PDT by isaiah55version11_0 (For His Glory)
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To: gridlock; Liz; indylindy; calcowgirl
"Coming Soon: Brain Controlled FReeping!"

The Rudybots will then be silenced!

18 posted on 06/22/2007 7:52:55 AM PDT by TommyDale (Rudy Giuliani’s candidacy is fading faster than an abortionist’s conscience.)
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To: gridlock
"Coming Soon: Brain Controlled FReeping!"

Hehehe, think of the ZOT possibilities...

19 posted on 06/22/2007 7:57:57 AM PDT by Abathar (Proudly catching hell for posting without reading the article since 2004)
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To: gridlock

Hmmm...I thought that toys have always been brain-controlled. Except they’ve required you to get off your duff and do something, or at least work on your hand-eye coordination.


20 posted on 06/22/2007 7:57:57 AM PDT by Southside_Chicago_Republican (Fred Thompson 2008)
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