Enter the affordable brain-PC interface

As we have said before, working on the Foresight Project on Cognitive Systems was an eye opener to what is happening in understanding how the brain works. Way back then, just three or four years ago, there was still something of a barrier between brain scientists and IT technologists. That's why they launched the project. The latest announcement from Cambridge Consultants (CCL) shows how quickly things are moving.

 

 

The headline to their announcement says a lot "New low-cost device opens communication for the severely paralysed". The piece is all about brain computer interfaces (BCIs) and work that CCL has done with the Wadsworth Center, a public health laboratory for the New York State Department of Health in Albany, New York.

 

It isn't just the fact that they have come up with a BCI system that "translates brain waves into computer control commands – without the need for electrodes implanted in the brain" but that the kit comes at a knock-down price. Well, that's the hope. The announcement quotes Dr Jonathan Wolpaw, director of the BCI unit of the Wadsworth Center, as saying "We’re trying to take a solution that might cost tens of thousands of dollars and make it work better at a price of around $5000." It is all done with a "wire hat" connected to a PC and a bunch of clever software.

 

Given the rush to set up "cognitive science" labs at places like MIT and the growing interest in developing a "Cognitive Science Technology Platform" in the EU's Framework Programme, we can expect to see a lot more stuff like this coming along. That will provide a field day for the ethicists.

 

Might as well add a plug for our own small contribution to the subject. The book "Cognitive Systems: Information Processing Meets Brain Science" was actually written by a bunch of brainy scientists. We just sharpened their nibs.