Brain-Controlled Arm in the White House

Brain-Controlled Arm in the White House

Starting this blog, I realize the brain-controlled devices are not an imaginative sci-fi gadgets anymore but something technologically achievable and economically affordable. At the annual White House Science Fair, a 17-year-old boy introduced his creation: a mind-controlled prosthetic arm (see the link below).

http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/22/3-awesome-and-inspiring-inventions-from-the-white-house-science-fair/

The arm is controlled by his concentration (a pattern of brain wave) and eye blinks, moves smoothly, and shakes hands with him.

Furthermore, he sells it for $250, thanks to the low-cost modelling by a 3D printer; it's a collaboration of two cutting-edge technologies. So far the product appearance is rough and there are many rooms to be sophisticated, in my opinion. But no doubt the future is on this way!

Think your password!

Do you know this situation...You are at the ATM on a crowded street and you are afraid, that someone can see you typing your PIN?

This can be history in a couple of years! In the future you can just THINK your password - and with the help of a common EEG headset and a piece of software you will get access to your bank account, mail account etc.

Professor John Chuang (Source: http://www.ischool.berkeley.edu)

A team from UC Berkeley School of Information released an interesting paper about this. Within a defined threshold, they were ably to reduce the error rate to 1%. This is pretty amazing.

So when we project this research in the future, where EEG sensors are much smaller and integrated into our daily life, this can be a big benefit regarding convenience and security while authentication processes.

But together with every invention in the area of security, there is also a way to manipulate it. You will find some interesting points about "hacking your mind" in the next days here.

Stay tuned!