Other Uses

Although BCIs were invented for medical purposes now that the technology is more developed the commercial sector is putting it to use as well. In 2009 MindFlex (Mattel) created a gaming system that through wearing their special EEG headset users could control the fan under a levitating ball to guide it around the console and through obstacles to the win the game.¹⁰ BCIs have also been adapted to communicate with and through social media. In April of 2009 a University of Wisconsin-Madison biomedical engineering doctoral student was able to use a BCI to help post a tweet on twitter.¹¹

One of the most recent spins it’s taken is its use in the auto industry. Companies are currently looking into BCIs that can detect drivers’ drowsiness levels and improve their reactions time.¹² A study done in 2011 showed that a simulation system using EEGs was able to predict the driver’s intentions of hitting the breaks and could activate a mechanism that stopped the car 130 milliseconds (a millisecond is 1/1000 of a second) earlier or reduced the breaking distance by 3.66 meters.¹³ What’s more impressive is that scientists are also using the same technology to build a robotic bodysuit so that a paralyzed teen can take the first kick off at the 2014 World Cup.¹⁴ Given time communication through BCIs could be taken even further and used for domotics, or home automation. The device could allow users to lock the door, open the curtains or flush the toilet with just one thought. It could even be used to meet unconscious needs like turning the bedroom light off when the person inside is falling asleep, adjusting room temperature based on the person entering the room or alerting medical personnel if a user is having a medical emergency.¹⁵

10. Dirjish, “BCI Technology Set To Break Commercial Ground?” 1.
11. Richard Yonck, . “THE AGE of the INTERFACE,” The Futurist 44, no. 3 (May, 2010): 14-9, 6.
12. Johnson, “It’s Like They’re Reading My Mind.”
13. Stefan Haufe, “EEG potentials predict upcoming emergency breakings during simulated driving,” Journal of Neural Engineering 8, no. 5 (March 2011).
14. Will Oremus, “Mind Plus Machine,” Slate Group, a division of the Washington Post Company, March 11, 2013.
15. Yonck, “THE AGE of the INTERFACE,” 6.