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Microsoft demos muscle-computer interface, air Guitar Hero now a reality
If Microsoft Research gets its way, you might soon be controlling computers using the tiniest of muscle twitches and no controller in sight. With a hand still in your pocket, or behind your back, you will be able to control a computer with a variety of finger-waggling and pinching gestures.
This new technology relies on electromyography (EMG), which is basically the muscular equivalent of an EEG — electroencephalography, the basis for brain-computer interfaces. An EMG detects the electrical charges created by muscle cells after they receive a signal from the brain. By placing an armband around the muscles in your forearm — the muscles that control your finger movements — an EMG can accurately detect the movement of your fingers. With training, software can then convert specific EMG readings into gestures, which can be fed into the computer as normal keyboard, mouse, or touchscreen inputs.
The video below, of one of Microsoft’s early prototypes, gives a good introduction to EMG-based human-computer interaction (HCI).
In a recent patent application, Microsoft notes that the EMG device doesn’t necessarily have to be an armband: It could be a wristwatch, an article of clothing, or even a pair of spectacles (though do you really want to control a computer with a waggle of your ears?) In all cases, these EMG controllers would be battery powered and connect to a wireless hub. Presumably you could wear multiple EMGs at the same time, too — maybe you will waltz and jive your way through the Xbox 720′s menu system, and Modern Warfare 4.
On the feedback side of things — which is always a problem with these newfangled, non-keyboard input methods — Microsoft says that the EMG armband would also includeactuators that buzz in response to your gestures. If you perform a pinch gesture, you might be treated to a light vibration that travels all the way around the armband; if you perform a gesture that isn’t recognized, you might be treated to a short, sharp buzz on the top of your arm.
There is also the issue of calibration: Irrespective of its location, the EMG device needs to be placed accurately — and if you’re particularly fat, boney, or muscular, it might be hard to get a good EMG reading. There is also one big omission from Microsoft’s patent filings, though: Accuracy. The video shows Guitar Hero being played, but that’s still just a series of on/off buttons — there’s no indication that EMG could be used to finely control a pointer on the screen.
Ultimately what we’re looking at is a smaller, localized version of Kinect — or a version ofLeap that doesn’t require a static, wired-up external input device. Even if an EMG HCI’s resolution isn’t up to scratch, we’re still stalking about a technology that could help us interact with smartphones, MP3 players, cars, and other objects while on the move.
Read more about brain-computer interfaces, or more crazy Microsoft Research innovations
Source: http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/133732-microsoft-demos-muscle-computer-interface-air-guitar-hero-now-a-reality
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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