Hitachi: Move the Train with Your Brain
From: Associated Press - 06/22/2007
By: Hiroko Tabuchi

Researchers at Hitachi's Advanced Research Laboratory in Hatoyama, Japan,
have developed the "brain-machine interface," a device that uses optical
topography technology to enable people to control electronic devices using
their thoughts. The device analyzes slight changes in the brain's blood flow
and translates brain activity into electric signals. In a demonstration, a
reporter wearing the device's cap, which connected to a control computer and
a toy train set, was able to start and stop the toy train by performing
calculations in her head. Optical topography sends a small amount of infrared
light through the brain's surface to monitor changes in blood flow.
Traditionally such technology has been reserved for medical uses, but
Hitachi's scientists are striving to refine the technology for commercial
use. The company is ready to develop a TV remote that lets users turn a
television on or off and change the channels only by thinking, and the
technology could eventually replace remote controls and keyboards and help
disabled and paralyzed people operate electric wheelchairs, beds, and
artificial limbs. The brain-machine interface does not require an implant,
like some earlier technologies did, but the interface still needs to be
adjusted to more accurately detect intentional signals and ignore background
brain activity. 

Read the entire article at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/japan_brain_remote;_ylt=AmFV6yIxB7qHzaVAeay2wGWs0NUE

Links:
Hitachi develops new 'brain-machine interface'
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/tech/news/4911485.html

Hideaki Koizumi
http://www.hqrd.hitachi.co.jp/global/fellow_koizumi.cfm
http://www.hqrd.hitachi.co.jp/global/fellow_koi_bio.cfm

Hitachi's Advanced Research Laboratory
http://www.hqrd.hitachi.co.jp/arle/