Virtual Walking with Brain Signals

Using brain signals, researchers in Austria and London have been able to use the brain signals of people thinking about walking in order to control virtual reality interfaces, as well as potentially control wheelchairs and eventually exoskeletons.

Researchers from Graz University of Technology in Austria, University College of London in England, Guger Technologies OEG in Austria and the University of Graz in Austria have expanded the amount of control available via external electrodes with a means of detecting changes in brain signals when users imagine moving their feet and translating the effect into walking motion within a virtual reality environment.

The system is distinguishes brain signals produced by thinking about different types of movements, including right hand, left hand, foot and tongue, and converts the information to control signals. Three test subjects were able to move forward through an immersive virtual street scene by imagining walking.

This type of interface promises to enable those who are disabled, and could eventually give and people whose hands and voices are otherwise occupied another way to assess computers.

In a related development, members of the same research team have developed a portable brain-computer interface for use in virtual environments. The battery-powered interface, which includes a diskless Pocket PC, makes it possible for people to physically move while using brain signal control.

I'm not impared, but this is major news in my opinion- if only to improve the immersion factor of playing first person shooters.

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