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Just in case Google Glass wasn't dorky enough, a new stitch-up is boosting the technology's geek factor while also increasing its functionality - through mind reading.
Yep, the promise of a brainwave controlled Google Glass product is decidedly stepping out of science fiction and into everyday reality. The MindRDR claims to be the world's first Glass app that facilitates brainwave control of the device.
Developed by UX company This Place, the interface works to bridge two devices: Google Glass and the Neurosky EEG biosensor, which measures brainwaves to translate brain activity into action. This brain-measuring device sits on a user's brain and adds another layer of geek to an already geeky experience. By simply relaxing and thinking, the user can then take photos and post to social media.
One of the key interface innovations was the means that the device gives feedback to the user: the feedback is represented by a horizontal line in the middle of the screen, which moves up the screen as the users concentrate and the drops down the screen as they relax. The idea is to concentrate to move the line to the top o fthe screen, when Google Glass takes the photo.
At the next screen, users concentrate (move line up) to post the photo or relax (move line down) to trash the image and start again.
The team spent over 1,000 hours of development time, and the CEO of This Place Dusan Hamlin sees this as a potential watershed for new applications for the Google Glass device:
Google Glass is one of the world’s most recognisable and popular pieces of wearable technology, but after getting our hands on it, the challenge of connecting it to brainwaves was one we could not resist. Currently, users either have to touch it or use voice commands, which are restrictive for some social situations and for users with disabilities.
All we could think was: how can we make the user’s experience even better? We wanted to realise the true potential of Glass by allowing users to control it with their minds.
As a user experience company we’re constantly improving the way people interact with technology. Imagine a world where you can interact with wearable devices just by thinking about the content you want. That’s the world we’re building, and we’re just getting started.
The implications in travel are obviously
The app is free and open-sourced on GitHub, as the company seeks to open up the potential interface usage.