Published , by Asif Khan
Published , by Asif Khan
There are a lot of pie-in-the-sky products at CES that don't actually do what they claim, but that isn't the case for NextMind's brain computing interface. On the last day, Greg and I were wandering the show floor, we came across their booth and I was stopped in my tracks. Mind control Duck Hunt? I am in.
There was a sizeable line, but the demo was well worth the wait as a NextMind developer set up the device on the back of my head. There is a simple setup procedure to make sure the device is properly situated on the back of your head, and then three different use cases were demonstrated.
NextMind's product uses a combination of neural networks and non-invasive sensors to track neural signals for a user's focus. It would be easy to confuse this with eye tracking, but it is more about processing how our brain processes mental imagery. By paying attention to a section of the screen, users attention is tracked to combine shapes into visible triangles. Once the triangles are fully formed, the desired action occurs.
This product was first demoed with something as simple as changing the channel on TV, pausing a recording, and changing the volume, but the real holy crap moment was playing Duck Hunt with my freaking mind. No lightgun required as I stared down ducks and capped their punk asses.
NextMind's Duck Hunt demo was one of the most innovative and impressive things that I experienced at CES 2020, and I was left thinking of how many applications there are for this technology. From accessibility to AR/VR, the company is definitely onto something big here. It is super important to note that this device does not require any invasive procedures and NextMind is opening the product up as a $399 development kit first. There is already a lot of demand for the product, but you can sign up on their waitlist if you are interested in helping them develop what will inevitably be a huge new platform for how humans interact with technology going forward.