A thinking game

Epoc, a new headset, interprets brain signals to let users play video games by using their thoughts and emotions alone

It is said that ‘mind rules the body’, but now your brain will also be controlling your moves while playing video games.

Scientists at Emotiv, a US/Australian neuro-engineering firm, have developed a neuro-headset called Epoc that interprets the interaction of neurons in the brain, and will enable gamers to interact with the virtual world using their thoughts and emotions alone.

“It picks up electrical activity from the brain and sends wireless signals to a computer. It allows the user to manipulate a game naturally and intuitively,” said Emotiv’s president, Ms Tan Le.

The brain constitutes billions of nerve cells, or neurons, that send out an electrical impulse at the time of interaction. Epoc makes use of a technology called non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG) for reading the neural activity.

The Epoc headset, being displayed, reads electrical impulses in the user’s brain and translates them into commands that a video game can accept

“We’ve created a brain-computer interface that reads electrical impulses in the brain and translates them into commands that a video game can accept and control the game dynamically,” said Le.

Headsets that read neural activity are not new, but Le said that the Epoc was the first-of-its-kind consumer device that can be used for gaming.

“This is the first headset that doesn’t require a large net of electrodes, or a technician to calibrate or operate it and does require gel on the scalp. It also doesn’t cost tens of thousands of dollars,” she said.

One of the prominent features of this headset is that it could be used to improve the realism of emotional responses of all the characters in games.

It may also provide authentic facial expressions to gamers’ avatars in virtual worlds. So it will be possible for the headset to detect the player’s expressions when he smiles, winks, grimaces; and translate it to the avatar in game. It can also read his emotions and translate those to the virtual world.

“The headset could be used to improve the realism of emotional responses of AI characters in games. If you laughed or felt happy after killing a character in a game, then your virtual buddy could admonish you for being callous,” said Le.

Costing around $299 (Rs 12,000 approx), this headset has a gyroscope for catching the movement and also makes use of Wi-Fi to communicate with a USB dongle plugged into a computer.

According to Emotiv, Epoc can detect more than 30 different expressions, emotions and actions. These include excitement, meditation, tension and frustration; facial expressions such as smile, laugh, wink, shock (eyebrows raised), anger (eyebrows furrowed); and even cognitive actions such as push, pull, lift, drop and rotate (on six different axes).

Epoc will allow gamers to move virtual objects just by thinking of the action.

Emotiv is now working with IBM to develop it for uses in “strategic enterprise business markets and virtual worlds.”

According to Paul Ledak, vice president, IBM Digital Convergence, brain computer interfaces, like the Epoc headset are an important component of the future 3D Internet and the future of virtual communication.