My Cart - Imagine being able to control your TV with the power of your thoughts alone. Well, according to recent reports maybe, just maybe, this is closer to being fact than fiction than you might think.
If you’re wondering why it’s because the BBC have developed a new mind-control TV headset capable of controlling a television using the power of thoughts alone, and trust us, it’s really rather amazing!
What is it?
This exciting technology was developed by the BBC in line with tech company This Place. The TV controlling piece of kit consists of a cheap, brainwave reading head set -which has so far been nicknamed “mind control TV”- and is designed to work with an experimental version of the BBC’s iPlayer platform.
How Does it Work?
If you’re wondering how this piece of kit works, the answer is pretty simple really, well, sort of!
Simply put, the device works by translating your brains electrical activity into commands for your TV. More specifically, this piece of kit is an electroencephalography headset and uses sensors to measure the brains electrical signals.
The headset is connected to a specially designed app. And together with the headset, this app is able to monitor the users concentration levels. This information is illustrated by a volume bar displayed on the screen, which provides a visual representation of the users level of concentration.
Users of the app are presented with a selection of 5 shows – with a different one of these being highlighted every ten seconds. If they wish to select the highlighted programme, the user merely has to concentrate for 10 seconds and this will trigger the programme to begin playing.
The first trial of the technology involved 10 BBC staff members, and whilst some of these had more success than others, they were all able to get the device to work in the end.
Looking To The Future
Whilst it’s definitely still early days. There’s no denying that with further refinement, this technology could have some pretty exciting applications. Just think – you’d never have to reach for your TV remote again!
But this technology is more than just a gimmick, it’s hoped that in the future it could also help to make the BBC’s services more accessible to people with disabilities too.
All in all, whilst the technology might not be ready to take the world by storm just yet, it still offers hope for the future that we may one day be able to forgo the traditional TV remote in favour of merely thinking about what we want to watch instead!
As suppliers of a wide range of graded televisions here at Electronics World we like to keep up to date with all the latest TV technologies and just couldn’t resist sharing this incredible story with you.
If you would like more information about any of our TVs please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our friendly team by giving us a call on 0121 327 3273 today.
