Controlling of devices using our minds is often thought to be something saved for the movies or a development that only a future generation will get to enjoy. It may still be some time before we can switch on the coffee machine with our mind, but the work is underway, so who knows what the human mind will be able to control in the future.

From the mundane to the inspiring to the just plain weird. This market snapshot looks at the research and development that is currently underway for mind-controlled prosthetic limbs, drones, TV’s and smart home devices.

Mind-controlled smart home devices

Having the ability to control your smart home devices using your smartphone or tablet is something consumers are just starting to wrap their heads around. However, technology is currently being worked on that could one day allow you to control your smart home devices using mind control. No more smartphone required. Dean Aslam, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Michigan State University, developed the technology.

Sensors worn on or around a person’s head would be able to measure the electromagnetic brain waves when the person focuses on something. A tiny computer connected to the sensors would then signal the device to turn on, for example, the coffee machine. To control a lot of smart home devices, the EEG-based micro system would also need to be able to respond to eye-blink, attention and meditation levels.

“The big challenge is how can you wear this system comfortably? How can you wear this system so that people around you do not notice? Once you figure this out then it opens up a huge opportunity for applications,” said Aslam.

Concentrate on which TV show to watch

Translating brain activity into actions is what the BBC claim their new headset, currently being tested, can do. The “Mind Control TV” would allow users to be able to select a TV program on an experimental version of BBC iPlayer. All that would be required is a certain level of concentration for 10 seconds from the user.

Cyrus Saihan, BBC Head of Business Development, says, “You can imagine a world where instead of having to get up from your sofa or reach for your remote, you just think ‘put BBC One on’ when you want to watch TV.

The first trial of the “Mind Control TV” involved 10 BBC staff members. Time will tell if it will become a reality for the everyday couch potato.

Mind-controlled prosthetics allow you to feel what you touch

The next generation of prosthetics is becoming even more intelligent, with more joints, the ability to lift more, mind control and even the ability for the person to feel the object they are touching.

The robotic arm that the engineers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab have developed has 26 joints with the ability to curl 45 pounds, and all of this is controlled by the person’s mind.

The custom socket of the Modular Prosthetic Limbs (M.P.L.) can pick up brain signals and just by thinking of movements, the person would be able to move their arm. At this stage, the prosthetic arm still requires approval from the Food and Drug Administration, as well as a lower price tag compared to the current $500,000.

Mike McLoughlin, the chief engineer of research and exploratory development at the lab said, “We’ve designed a Maserati here, but what most people will want is a good Toyota,” Mr. McLoughlin said. “The M.P.L. was intentionally designed to be as sophisticated as we could make it so that you could really push the state of the art, but ultimately for commercializing it, it needs to be a lower cost design.”

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has also developed a super intelligent prosthetic arm that provides a “near natural sense of touch”. The sophisticated neural technologies will not only allow people to move the robotic arm using brain signals, but they will also have the ability to feel the item that they are touching or picking up.

“We’ve completed the circuit,” said DARPA program manager Justin Sanchez. “Prosthetic limbs that can be controlled by thoughts are showing great promise, but without feedback from signals traveling back to the brain it can be difficult to achieve the level of control needed to perform precise movements. By wiring a sense of touch from a mechanical hand directly into the brain, this work shows the potential for seamless bio-technological restoration of near-natural function.”

Flying with your mind

Drones have become incredibly popular, with their range of uses differing substantially, from a simple holiday video to use in the military.

Earlier this year, Tekever, a Portuguese company, gave a demonstration of a mind-controlled drone. After extensive training, a pilot was fitted with the special cap and could control the drone on his thoughts alone.

“The project has successfully demonstrated that the use of the brain-computer interface (BMI) on a simulator for the Diamond DA42 aircraft, where one pilot controlled the simulator through the Brainflight system. We’ve also integrated the BMI the UAV ground systems and have successfully tested it in UAV simulators. We’re now taking it one step further, and performing live flight tests with the UAV.”, said Ricardo Mendes Tekever’s COO.

Future ambitions of the drone technology would be to apply it to commercial and private pilots allowing them to fly an aircraft with only mind control.

The bizarre

Mind-control devices also have its fair share of the bizarre. One such company to enter the bizarre mind-controlled devices is a Japanese company, Neurowear.

Necomimi are fluffy cat ears that a person would wear on their head. Scanning the person’s brain waves, the ears will react, either standing up when you are concentrating or relaxing when you are feeling calm. If that’s not enough, you could also get the Shippo, a fluffy tail that will wag when you are happy.

Images via: Allan Ajifo, Flickr; BBC; Wikimedia Commons