Brain-Activated Computer Could Assist Disabled
From: Physical Therapy Products - 04/27/2011

Students at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel have developed
innovative technology that could enable people to operate a computer without
using a keyboard or mouse—only their brainwaves. 

While there have been previous attempts to develop devices to read brainwaves
and operate specific programs, they were cumbersome and not feasible outside
of a laboratory setting. 

The BGU technology features a helmet equipped with 14 EEG connect points that
sense brain activity. 

According to Rami Puzis, "The technology is designed to assist those who are
physically disabled who might otherwise be unable to manipulate a computer
mouse or keyboard."  

The student team - Ori Ossmy, Ofir Tam, and Ariel Rozen - developed the
prototype application for their bachelor's degree project. As part of a
recent demonstration, a student composed and sent a hands-free e-mail using
only thought combined with the adaptive hardware. The students and BGU team
plan to continue research working with the disabled. 

Source:
http://www.ptproductsonline.com/SOAPNotes/2011-04-27_05.asp

Links:
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
http://in.bgu.ac.il/en/Pages/default.aspx

BGU Students Develop Thought-Controlled, Hands-Free Computer for the Disabled
http://in.bgu.ac.il/en/Pages/news/thought_controlled.aspx

Video (64.5 Mb)
http://tlabs.bgu.ac.il/download/MindDesktop/MindDesktop1.mp4

---

Mind-Controlled Computing for the Disabled
From: Israel21c - 06/02/2011
By: Karin Kloosterman 

Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have developed MinDesktop,
a graphical user interface (GUI) designed to help the physically challenged
use their thoughts to send emails, surf the Web, turn on media players, and
communicate with the outside world. "One application is helping disabled
people with diseases like [amyotrophic lateral sclerosis] and other muscular
problems, or for somebody who is using his hands for some other operation and
cannot use a keyboard or mouse," says Ben-Gurion's Rami Puzis. During
testing, able-bodied subjects were able to learn a new action and type a
12-character email in about seven minutes using only their thoughts. The
breakthrough is in the way the students hierarchically organized the system's
commands in a manner that is simple for a human to learn and use. "We are
using three actions that the software and the headset can give us - two is
not enough - and when there are many actions you define [in the system], it
becomes noisy and harder to control," Puzis says. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.israel21c.org/201106029094/technology/mind-controlled-computing-for-the-disabled

Link:
MinDesktop
http://www.se.bgu.ac.il/he/node/108