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BBC develops mind-controlled TV

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The BBC sees potential in mind-controlled TV for improving accessibility and for developing a new type of user interface
BBC
The BBC sees potential in mind-controlled TV for improving accessibility and for developing a new type of user interface
BBC
A screenshot of the experimental app with the "volume bar" of brainwaves on the left hand side
BBC
A screenshot of the experimental app asking the user to "meditate" to open one of the programs
BBC
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Mind-controlled prosthetics, drones and exoskeletons are all very forward-thinking, but what about a more mundane use for the technology? The BBC's "Mind Control TV" prototype hints at a future where couch potatoes need not even lift the remote. Users can open an app and select a program to watch.

The prototype has been developed by the BBC’s Digital division, which looks in part at how the organization can innovate by using new and emerging technologies. Head of business development for the division Cyrus Saihan explains that the research aims to give program makers, technologists and others an idea of how this technology might be used in the future.

Saihan says that the organization sees potential in the technology for improving accessibility, in particular for people with disabilities, and for developing a new type of user interface. Individuals suffering from locked-in syndrome, for example, could be given a better means of accessing digital and media services, whilst drivers could simply think of a particular radio station for it to come on in the car without having to take their hands off the steering wheel.

The prototype itself employs a low-cost electroencephalography (EEG) brainwave reading headset, the like of which we've featured recently with the Melomind and Muse brain-training apps. The headset measures electrical activity in the brain and allows an accompanying experimental app to use either "concentration" or "meditation" as a means of control.

A screenshot of the experimental app asking the user to "meditate" to open one of the programs
BBC

The app displays a "volume bar" of concentration on-screen and allows users to carry out actions once a certain level of concentration has been reached. App users are presented with five popular BBC shows, a different one of which is highlighted every 10 seconds. When the user wants to select the highlighted program, they have 10 seconds to concentrate and trigger the program to begin playing.

The first trial run saw 10 BBC staff members try out the app, with some having more success than others. Saihan says they all got the device to work, however. Although rudimentary, the prototype system provides proof-of-concept and will inform future investigation.

The video below provides an introduction to the Mind Control TV project.

Source: BBC

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4 comments
Bob Flint
Haha mind control, I thought TV already was mind control, and gave it up 6 years ago..
So a zombie state couch potato doesn't use his mind, how will this work, pure advertising, blink & buy, buy, buy...
MBadgero
This is just a natural progression of what BBC TV has been doing for about 80 years. GTG, Doctor Who is on...
ljaques
Why would anyone need anything more than an OFF switch for current television programming? I'm 10 years beyond it now and have never missed it. Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and RedBox fill my need for movies, and I never have to put up with another advertisement I can't stand. Win/Win, wot? Request to the BBC: modify this machine to work with Kindles and Nooks so the people who can't use their arms can read books and improve their minds. TV can't do that.
СуренАкопов
Made a very important ( revolutionary and unpublished ) discovery - invention-the1.first practical device for reading human thoughts / human mind reading machine / Brain Computer Interface. In particular, I have created a means for people with Locked - in Syndrome ( LiS ) and ALS ( such as British physicist Stephen Hawking or Steve Gleason problem ). Another unit called human Speech Generating Device. But I can't publish my discovery ( I can't protect their copyright ) and I invite partnership. Thank you. Syren Akopov. About the problem look for example in You Tube : 1.Jack Gallant, human mind reading machine; 2.John - Dylan Haynes, human mind reading machine; 3.Tom Mitchell and Marcel Just, human mind reading machine. Cyrus Saihan and his colleagues from BBC is not right, they do not prove reasonable. And it's true.