Computer Users Move Themselves with the Mind
From: Nature - 09/27/2005
By: Michael Hopkin

A new brain-computer interface developed by Gert Pfurtscheller of Austria's
Graz University of Technology provides a non-invasive way to detect neuronal
signals associated with movement and translate those signals into movement
within a virtual environment. The interface consists of an electrode-studded
"thought cap" that picks up brain waves along the surface of the scalp, and
is connected to a computer that determines which movements those signals
correspond to. The device was unveiled at last week's Presence 2005
technology conference, where participants used it to navigate a 3D
virtual-reality studio. It can take several hours of training for a user to
become proficient with Pfurtscheller's interface, notes Graz entrepreneur
Christoph Guger. Paralysis victims could potentially use the interface to
move robotic limbs, while motor neuron disease sufferers might employ the
technology to type out words on a virtual keyboard. Pfurtscheller thinks the
device could even help stroke patients regain movement by enabling them to
exert the motor centers of their brain. Detecting local brain activity
accurately was previously achievable only through electrodes implanted
directly within the brain. 

Read the entire story at:
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050926/full/050926-5.html

Links:
Direct Brain Interface
http://www.dpmi.tu-graz.ac.at/dbi.html

Guger Technologies
http://www.gtec.at/