Emotiv Systems
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Emotiv Systems is an electronics company developing brain-computer interfaces based on electroencephalography (EEG) technology. Emotiv Systems was founded in 2003 by four scientists and executives: neuroscientist Professor Allan Snyder, chip-designer Neil Weste, and technology entrepreneurs Tan Le and Nam Do.
Their only current product, to be released in late 2008, is the Emotiv Epoc peripheral for gaming on Windows PCs. But future applications for the Emotiv technology and interface span a variety of potential industries -- interactive television, accessibility design, market research, medicine, even security -- and plans for introducing Emotiv into these realms and more are already in the works.
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[edit] Emotiv EPOC
The Emotiv headset makes it possible for games to be controlled and influenced by the player's mind[citation needed], and facial expressions. The Emotiv headset uses a set of sensors to tune into electric signals naturally produced by the brain to detect player thoughts, feelings and expression. It connects wirelessly with the PC, and may in the future work on other game platforms such as consoles. So far, Emotiv Systems has not released any technical specifications of their device, making comparisons to existing EEGs or evaluating the realistic potential of the device difficult.
[edit] Inputs
The EPOC has 16 electrodes, fewer than a standard medical EEG. It also has a two-axis gyros for measuring head rotation.
It can measure four categories of inputs:
- Conscious thoughts[citation needed] (Cognitiv suite): Imagining 12 kinds of movement (6 directions and 6 rotations), plus 1 other visualization ("disappear"), can be detected. However the current driver can only listen for any 4 of these at a time. Videos of Emotiv employees playing The Game show a high degree of difficulty in performing these mental actions, even for experienced users. However that might be a deliberate game feature and lower difficulty levels might be possible. Users can train the 13 visualizations to totally different thoughts than the ones specified, but detection ability will be worse[citation needed]. The "disappear" visualization was a recent addition. New ones may be added before it is released. Due to the complex detection algorithms involved, there is a slight lag in detecting thoughts, making them more suitable for games like Harry Potter than FPS games.[1]
- Emotions (Affectiv suite): "Excitement", "Engagement/Boredom", "Meditation", and "Frustration" can currently be measured. Emotiv admits that the names may not perfectly reflect exactly what the emotion is, and says that they may be renamed before the product release. Also, additional emotions may be added.
- Facial expressions (Expressiv suite): Individual eyelid positions, horizontal eye position, eyebrow position, smiling, clenching, and smirking, can currently be detected. Other expressions may be added prior to release. The expressions are detected by the EEG due to signals to facial muscles, rather than by reading brainwaves. Unlike reading thoughts, these detections are very fast (10ms)[citation needed] and are suitable for fast paced games like the FPS genre.
- Head rotation: The angular velocity of your head can be measured in the yaw and pitch (but not roll) directions. This is detected by gyros, and isn't related to the EEG features.
[edit] Software & SDK
The Emotiv EPOC will ship with a game by Demiurge Studios, previously called "The Game", built on the Unreal engine. Videos of portions of the game have been shown at conferences and in media interviews. The game involves a first person view of the user walking around a virtual environment, with many different activities at different locations. The sky changes color according to the mood of the player. Demonstrated activities in the game include pushing and rotating giant stone structures into the shape of stone henge, then raising a temple from below the ground; levitating a large rock and some smaller ones; repairing a bridge; bending a tree; and scaring away glowing spirits with scary facial expressions.
The EPOC also includes "EmoKey" software used to emulate keystrokes based on combinations of thoughts, feelings, and facial expressions. Any EPOC detection can be paired with keystrokes or string of keystrokes through a simple user interface by the end user. Future versions will also emulate the mouse based on the gyros. This software allows most existing games, instant messaging programs, and other software to be controlled with the headset.
There is also a planned piece of software, or possibly a web site, known as "Emortal", for listening to music, viewing photos, and other activities, modified based on what you are thinking and feeling.
And there is Emotiv Control Panel, also seen in many videos, which allows users to train the various thoughts, such as "push" and "disappear", and test them on a floating, bobbing, cube. It also allows users to view their emotional state, such as "excitement", on a graph. And it has a 2D Blue Avatar for viewing their own facial expressions, and adjusting the sensitivity of those detections.
A free SDK (called SDK Lite) is also available for download from the Emotiv website. It includes software to emulate the Emotiv EPOC for developers who do not have one of the (beta version) headsets.
[edit] Company
Emotiv is a technology company based in Australia and U.S. working on a brain-computer interface technology that can detect and process both human conscious thoughts and non-conscious emotions.
Emotiv Systems was founded in Sydney, Australia in 2003 by four individuals: neuroscientist Professor Allan Snyder, chip-design pioneer Neil Weste, and technology entrepreneurs Tan Le and Nam Do.
[edit] Marketing
At the Game Developers Conference 2008, in San Francisco an Emotiv headset was among the new video game input devices there. The demo played with the Emotiv was a puzzle where the player rebuilds Stonehenge. To do so, the wearer did hand motions such as, pushing and pulling to restore Stonehenge. [1]
[edit] Competitors
Emotiv has two main commercial-competitors in the area of consumer EEG technology for gaming- and PC-users. The competitors have gone for a lower price, but with much fewer electrodes and thus less detections[citation needed].
OCZ has a $160 US Neural Impulse Actuator with 3 electrodes on the front of a headband. OCZ are hoping to gain market share by bringing their product out first (May, 2008). Unlike Emotiv, they are marketting it as a faster, more efficient way of controlling existing games and applications (mostly using facial expressions), instead of as a more immersive way of triggering magical abilities in games or making avatars show your facial expressions.
NeuroSky has a very cheap single electrode headset. However they are not marketing it directly to the public. They are selling their technology in bulk to other companies for those companies to incorporate into their products. Currently Neurosky's headset can only detect the strength of two emotions[citation needed].
There is also an existing game machine table based on EEGs, called Mindball. Players must move a ball on the table by relaxing and not thinking, until the ball reaches the opponent's circle. The machine costs roughly $20,000 US and is usually rented out to groups.
