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Brain waves of the future

Written by Steve Spohn

Published on 06 June 2008

The dawning of a new age of technology has begun thanks to the efforts of OCZ. The tech gurus over there have been plotting to release a new input device for years now. For a while, this new device was just a rumor, the day of its release was pushed back repeatedly. People grew concerned as many of them wondered if the device was just a dream.

On May 27, the dream became a reality when OCZ added the Neural Impulse Actuator or NIA to their official product list. The NIA has gone through many overhauls including one prototype that looked like a crab. Today’s NIA is a black box the size of a hatbox wired to a headband style device. The headband comes in your choice of black, black, or my favorite; black. Three small “dry” carbon based nanofiber sensors are embedded in the snazzy headband.

The sensors detect EGG brain waves, eye glancing, and facial expressions. The NIA learns what actions you normally make, reads and amplifies them then translates each to a trigger mechanism within nano-seconds. Each keyboard or mouse function can be assigned to different triggers. The Actuator converts signals from your brain to keystrokes to be used in any software or game.

After a quick plug and play usb connection, the real fun begins. The installation CD has several calibration screens including three mini practice games. The calibration begins by having us stare at a gyroscope in the middle of the screen, which allows the NIA to determine how your face reacts when it is relaxed. Once that is over, grab a game of pong and try playing hands free! The NIA will eventually recognize which way you are looking and allow you to move, run, jump, fire, or whatever else your favorite game requires.

Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Well, the inner Sci-Fi geek or child in all of us would love to believe that we could stare at a screen and have it work for us. However, our expectations should remain tempered. This is first generation technology. Anyone remember the T1 automobile or that screaming fast 24k baud modem that rocked. Exactly, although this is an incredibly innovative product, the NIA will be improved on many times in our lives.

Having said all of the negatives, the upside is amazing. Right out of the box the NIA shows promise in eliminating the keyboard. Additionally, the OCZ tag line repeated on many forums is “the user needs to forget some of the learned habits and to acquire a different set of skills in order to interface with the computer.” This means it will take time to learn how to use the device but the early reviews say that it will vary user to user how easily this new “skill set” is acquired.

The NIA is not meant to replace our keyboards or mice. The NIA is a new peripheral to be used in conjunction with other devices. This device combined with game pads, trackballs, head mice, and voice recognition software opens up so many doors to the disabled. Regardless of how easy this product is to learn, those of us who dream of using computers hands free should rejoice. Thanks to OCZ that dream is one-step closer.

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Comments

0 #4 absolutely real — Bearguy 2008-06-24 12:24

at the time when I wrote this article the price had not yet been finalized. The neural impulse actuator is now beginning to ship from retailers for the price of $140-$160. I will be purchasing one of these in the near future, at that time I will post a new story of my experience with the device.

In the meantime, yes this device is absolutely real and you can watch you tubes videos of it if you need further proof that it is not just a dream.
try this link for pricing: http://www.google.com/search?q=Neural+Impulse+Actuator&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

0 #3 crud! — BlazeEagle 2008-06-22 09:44

Crud! That URL don't work! Use this search term at that site in the URL -
OCZ Neural Impulse Actuator (NIA) Brain-Computer Interface

http://www.extreme-pc.ca

0 #2 Price info — BlazeEagle 2008-06-22 09:39

It's $300 - OUCH! :cry:

But, it's $175 CA here -
http://www.extreme-pc.ca/showproduct.asp?productid=371879

That's CA, so it's still $300 U.S. I presume...

So, this is FOR SURE reality?

I WANT to believe this is reality, especially from a reliable source like Able Gamers, but I'm a cautious person by nature...