The Furry Forums
Furry Chat => General => Topic started by: White Wolf Guardian on October 28, 2009, 07:49:06 PM
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I just saw a commercial for the Mattel Mindflex today and I just got really excited about it so I had to look it up, it's conceptual at this point for controlling objects with your mind via electrical signals converted from brain waves, but they are making progress, and this $80 toy shows some promise :D
Here's a picture of it:
(http://www.mindmodulations.com/mindmods/images/blogimages/mindflex.jpg)
There's also a review and some videos of it at Engadget: http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/09/video-mattel-mind-flex-hands-and-heads-on/ (http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/09/video-mattel-mind-flex-hands-and-heads-on/) The mindflex is somewhat disappointing because of the dial required to move the ball in two directions There's also another review of it at CNET which shows a star wars mind control toy too http://news.cnet.com/crave/?keyword=Mattel+Mindflex (http://news.cnet.com/crave/?keyword=Mattel+Mindflex)
I did find out that the consumer technology behind that had more goodies so this is even more interesting. NeuroSky created a NeuroSky Mindset here: http://store.neurosky.com/products/mindset (http://store.neurosky.com/products/mindset) Actually it's $199.00 but they forgot the decimal point on the product page
Here's a picture of it:
(http://www.gadgetsnews.co.uk/images/neurosky-mindset-bluetooth%20headphones.jpg)
It's a software oriented headset for computer that allows you to visualize your brainwaves in an graphical user interface and a dynamic graphs and charts system, play a game called NeuroBoy where you can move objects with your mind and even set cars on FIRE and there's a math trainer program that shows you where you could improve on arithmetic.
Brain Visualizer: http://store.neurosky.com/products/brainwave-visualizer (http://store.neurosky.com/products/brainwave-visualizer)
The Adventures of NeuroBoy: http://store.neurosky.com/products/the-adventures-of-neuroboy-bci-technology-demo (http://store.neurosky.com/products/the-adventures-of-neuroboy-bci-technology-demo)
MathTrainer: http://store.neurosky.com/products/math-trainer (http://store.neurosky.com/products/math-trainer)
There's a few videos of it on youtube where the NeuroBoy game, miscallaneous demos, real life uses and even the Source engine The source engine is used on the Half-Life 2 series of Valve and Gearbox Software games in case you don't know what that is show some nice abilities :3
Here are some example videos I found:
NeuroBoy car burning and throwing objects: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlJz1Dm16wQ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlJz1Dm16wQ)
Space Invaders: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CoQ5yz-dfc (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CoQ5yz-dfc)
Moving a cart connected to a winch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR5sIMtgXEE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR5sIMtgXEE)
Source Engine moving objects: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQWBfCg91CU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQWBfCg91CU)
There's also a free development kit for this here: http://www.neurosky.com/mindset/devtools.html (http://www.neurosky.com/mindset/devtools.html)
I definitely plan on getting this soon, because I want to see what I can do with it and I hope that homebrew developers find this and then port it to other systems, because this would be so awesome on some games, perhaps even on Wii or open source platforms like the GP2X and Pandora Portable, the Mindset seems to have a lot of gaming potential :P
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Yeah, mind control devices like this are really starting to find some real world application. It'll still take a while for anything concretely marketable at the same level as mainstream products, and even then, the requirement for something physical is something this kind of technology will have trouble with.
either way, god luck with working for this stuff.
New technology is always fun, but I like to invest when it's really dug its roots in.
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I love thinking about the possibilities, perhaps I could finally draw what I imagine and then finally be able to make what I imagine real on a graphical user interface someday :P
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Actually, there's this printer made that can create components, things, actual physical objects. So you could imagine something, and then get the machine to make it.
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Ah yes, I've heard of this, and it looks very promising, but like AsiaBunny I'm going to wait for them to iron out the kinks, which could take awhile.
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I love thinking about the possibilities, perhaps I could finally draw what I imagine and then finally be able to make what I imagine real on a graphical user interface someday :P
I don't look forward to that because then there's no use for artists like me.
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That would be true I guess, I don't really have an artist to commission stuff from though, don't know where to look for one, so more convenient if it worked out :/
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I don't look forward to that because then there's no use for artists like me.
There will always be a use for the creatively minded. You provide a different view, a different imagination. If we kept our imagination to ourselves, we would be worse for it. With such technology, it would be easier for you to create more complex and interesting work.
Losing barriers only lets those who pushed those barriers to expand outwards. Those without the talent won't manage. We can all write novels, but nobody would want to read the work of an idiot
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Looks cheap and tacky, sorry
http://www.toymania.com/columns/spotlight/hplevgamepics.shtml
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that's not mind control. That's air lifting the ball, and you control the flow of air.
that's how it looks atleast
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I know it isn't, my sister has that game lying around, it's all controlled by a dial on the front.