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Teens mind-control Second Life avatars with their brains

If you have a

with-it kid, you probably have heard about his or her Second Life. Second Life, for those not in the know, is a virtual world in which you can craft your own personal life as you see fit. And don’t dismiss it as just a fad….it’s so popular real life people build their own real life income and industry in it as well.

Anywhos, did you know that over in Japan, researchers can now let kids control their Second Life character with their brains? To wit back in 2007:

…Researchers from the Biomedical Engineering Laboratory at Keio University in Japan have developed a brain-computer interface that enables users to control the movements of Second Life avatars without moving a muscle.

The device consists of a headset containing electrodes which monitor electrical activity in the motor cortex, the region of the brain involved in planning, executing and controlling movements.

All a user has to do to control his/her avatar is imagine performing various movements. The activity monitored by the headpiece is read and plotted by an electroencephalogram, which relays it to a computer running a brain wave analysis algorithm that interprets the imagined movements. A keyboard emulator then translates the data into signals which can be used to control the movements of the user’s on-screen avatar in real-time …MORE…

Talk about something a weee bit different than the US Robotics classes offered in high schools!

Here’s more of what I’m talking about:

Brain Computer Interface at Keio University

Brain-computer interface and virtual reality

Thus, if your kid is an online gamer freak, start tonight’s dinner conversation with, “Hey kid! You think YOU know how to play Second Life? Well, over in Japan….. ”

ThankYouVeryMuch!

Owlbert

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ps - and speaking about Second Life: