Guardian
The Cosmic Force
_http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2011-05/5/neurowear-cat-ears
Japanese company Neurowear is creating a range of fashion items that are operated using brainwaves, including a pair of moveable cat ears.
The cat ear product, called "necomimi" is a novelty hair band that is worn in the normal way but features sensors that pick up on brain signals and convert them into visible actions -- in this case by wiggling the cat ears.
The ears twitch through a range of different positions, which correspond to different brain activity. So when you concentrate, the ears point upwards and when you relax the ears flop down and forwards. The result is a kick-ass pair of ears that will make everyone at the furry convention / fancy dress party jealous.
So far it's not much more sophisticated than that and the headband looks fairly chunky -- not ideal even for the most hardcore Japanese cosplay enthusiast. But it's certainly interesting to see more playful applications for mind control than those currently in the market.
Mind control isn't new, but lately advances have been made to make mass market control devices at affordable prices. One such example is the Epoc headset from Emotiv systems, which we covered in the December issue of the magazine. The 14-sensor electroencephalography (EEG) headset lets people control their computers without touching a key.
While Neurowear's cat ears are a fun idea, the underpinning technology could have more beneficial applications if used in the health and wellbeing market -- helping patients with severe mental or physical health problems to communicate, for example.
You can see the ears in action in the gallery above or check out the video of people trialling the Necomimi below.
Japanese company Neurowear is creating a range of fashion items that are operated using brainwaves, including a pair of moveable cat ears.
The cat ear product, called "necomimi" is a novelty hair band that is worn in the normal way but features sensors that pick up on brain signals and convert them into visible actions -- in this case by wiggling the cat ears.
The ears twitch through a range of different positions, which correspond to different brain activity. So when you concentrate, the ears point upwards and when you relax the ears flop down and forwards. The result is a kick-ass pair of ears that will make everyone at the furry convention / fancy dress party jealous.
So far it's not much more sophisticated than that and the headband looks fairly chunky -- not ideal even for the most hardcore Japanese cosplay enthusiast. But it's certainly interesting to see more playful applications for mind control than those currently in the market.
Mind control isn't new, but lately advances have been made to make mass market control devices at affordable prices. One such example is the Epoc headset from Emotiv systems, which we covered in the December issue of the magazine. The 14-sensor electroencephalography (EEG) headset lets people control their computers without touching a key.
While Neurowear's cat ears are a fun idea, the underpinning technology could have more beneficial applications if used in the health and wellbeing market -- helping patients with severe mental or physical health problems to communicate, for example.
You can see the ears in action in the gallery above or check out the video of people trialling the Necomimi below.
