A new experiment has enabled participants to select and watch a TV programme on an online app -- simply using the power of their brainwaves.
The project, carried out by the BBC's digital division in collaboration with user experience studio This Place, used a simple low-cost brainwave-reading headset to create the prototype, dubbed "Mind Control TV".
In the technology's first trial ten BBC staff members tried out the app, which allowed them to access an experimental version of BBC iPlayer and select a programme to watch, using only the brain's electrical activity.
The electroencephalography (EEG) headset uses two sensors -- one that rests on the forehead, and another clipped to their ear -- to measure the brain's electrical signals. On the interface, the user can choose either "concentration" or "meditation" as the main brain control mechanism.
When the user selects to "concentrate", the headset and app measures their level of concentration, visually depicted onscreen by a "volume bar" of brainwaves. Once a certain level of concentration has been reached, a message is sent to perform a specific action: in this instance, launching BBC iPlayer.
From there, the viewer is then presented with five of the current most popular BBC shows -- each of which are highlighted every ten seconds. When the desired TV programme is highlighted, the user then has another ten seconds to concentrate on that programme so it'll start playing.
Subsequent tests of "Mind Control TV" in the BBC's Salford "Blue Room" -- a specialist facility allowing staff to try out new consumer and broadcast technology -- have also proved successful.
The BBC already offers advanced ways of allowing viewers to access its digital content, such as voice control with BBC iPlayer on Xbox One. However, it's hoped that in the future, "Mind Control TV" may be able to help people with physically limiting disabilities -- such as motor-neurone disease or locked-in syndrome -- get equal access to online entertainment.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
