Comparison of Consumer Brain-Computer Interface Devices
Encyclopedia
| Device | Price | Electrodes | Sensors Interpret: | Peripheral Peripheral A peripheral is a device attached to a host computer, but not part of it, and is more or less dependent on the host. It expands the host's capabilities, but does not form part of the core computer architecture.... |
SDK | Released | Producer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MindWave NeuroSky NeuroSky, Inc. is a manufacturer of Brain-Computer Interface technologies for consumer product applications. It was founded in 2004 and is a Silicon Valley based company. The company claims that their mission is to make BCI technology available to any industry... |
$99.95 | 1 | 2 mental states (based on 4 brainwaves), eyeblinks | ; | NeuroSky NeuroSky NeuroSky, Inc. is a manufacturer of Brain-Computer Interface technologies for consumer product applications. It was founded in 2004 and is a Silicon Valley based company. The company claims that their mission is to make BCI technology available to any industry... |
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| Mindflex Mindflex Mindflex is a toy by Mattel which uses brain waves to steer a ball through an obstacle course. The brain waves are captured with the enclosed EEG headset, which allows the user to speed up or slow down a fan, thus lifting or lowering the blue styrofoam ball. The game was released in the fall of 2009... (Uses NeuroSky chips NeuroSky NeuroSky, Inc. is a manufacturer of Brain-Computer Interface technologies for consumer product applications. It was founded in 2004 and is a Silicon Valley based company. The company claims that their mission is to make BCI technology available to any industry... ) |
$50 | 1 | 1 mental state | ; | Mattel Mattel Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from... (Neurosky NeuroSky NeuroSky, Inc. is a manufacturer of Brain-Computer Interface technologies for consumer product applications. It was founded in 2004 and is a Silicon Valley based company. The company claims that their mission is to make BCI technology available to any industry... partner |
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| Emotiv EPOC | $299 | 14 | 4 mental states (based on brainwaves), 13 conscious thoughts, facial expressions, head movements (sensed by 2 gyros) | ; | Emotiv Systems Emotiv Systems Emotiv Systems is an Australian electronics company developing brain–computer interfaces based on electroencephalography technology. The company was founded in 2003 by four scientists and executives: neuroscientist Professor Allan Snyder, chip-designer Neil Weste, and technology entrepreneurs Tan... |
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| Star Wars Force Trainer Force Trainer The Force Trainer is a Star Wars-themed toy being produced by Uncle Milton Industries that is said to allow its user to create the illusion of performing Force-powered telekinesis.... (based on NeuroSky chips NeuroSky NeuroSky, Inc. is a manufacturer of Brain-Computer Interface technologies for consumer product applications. It was founded in 2004 and is a Silicon Valley based company. The company claims that their mission is to make BCI technology available to any industry... ) |
$45 | 1 | 1 mental state | ; | Uncle Milton (Neurosky NeuroSky NeuroSky, Inc. is a manufacturer of Brain-Computer Interface technologies for consumer product applications. It was founded in 2004 and is a Silicon Valley based company. The company claims that their mission is to make BCI technology available to any industry... partner |
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| MindSet NeuroSky NeuroSky, Inc. is a manufacturer of Brain-Computer Interface technologies for consumer product applications. It was founded in 2004 and is a Silicon Valley based company. The company claims that their mission is to make BCI technology available to any industry... |
$199 | 1 | 2 mental states (based on 4 brainwaves), eyeblinks | ; | NeuroSky NeuroSky NeuroSky, Inc. is a manufacturer of Brain-Computer Interface technologies for consumer product applications. It was founded in 2004 and is a Silicon Valley based company. The company claims that their mission is to make BCI technology available to any industry... |
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| Neural Impulse Actuator Neural Impulse Actuator The Neural Impulse Actuator is a brain–computer interface device developed by OCZ Technology. BCI devices attempt to move away from the classic input devices like keyboard and mouse and instead read electrical activity from the head, preferably the EEG... |
$90 | 3 | 2 brainwaves (Alpha & Beta), facial muscle and eye movements | ; ; No longer being manufactured (EOL).http://www.ocztechnology.com/nia-game-controller-eol.html | OCZ Technology OCZ Technology OCZ Technology is a manufacturer of computer hardware based in San Jose, California, USA. Since entering the memory market in 2002, OCZ has targeted its products primarily at the computer hardware enthusiast market, first producing performance DDR RAM, Video Cards, USB drives, and various Cooling... |
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| Mindball Mindball Mindball is a two person game controlled by players’ brain waves in which players compete to control a ball's movement across a table by becoming more relaxed and focused. Mindball is produced by the Swedish Company Interactive Productline... |
$20,000 | 1 | 1 mental state | ; | Interactive Productline | ||
| XWave headset | $90 | 1 | 8 EEG bands | ; (Windows and iOS apps available now, Android app available soon) | XWave | ||
Open-source projects
The OpenEEG project offers individuals a way to build their own EEGEEG
EEG commonly refers to electroencephalography, a measurement of the electrical activity of the brain.EEG may also refer to:* Emperor Entertainment Group, a Hong Kong-based entertainment company...
device. The OpenEEG project estimates that building your own EEG costs $200 and takes a few weekends. The OpenEEG product was the earliest method for individuals who wanted an inexpensive EEG for personal use; today EEG enthusiasts are cannibalizing toys like the Mindflex
Mindflex
Mindflex is a toy by Mattel which uses brain waves to steer a ball through an obstacle course. The brain waves are captured with the enclosed EEG headset, which allows the user to speed up or slow down a fan, thus lifting or lowering the blue styrofoam ball. The game was released in the fall of 2009...
, Force Trainer
Force Trainer
The Force Trainer is a Star Wars-themed toy being produced by Uncle Milton Industries that is said to allow its user to create the illusion of performing Force-powered telekinesis....
, and MindWave to build less expensive more reliable personalized EEG devices.
Emokit is an open-source Python library for reading out sensor data from the EPOC (Emotiv Systems
Emotiv Systems
Emotiv Systems is an Australian electronics company developing brain–computer interfaces based on electroencephalography technology. The company was founded in 2003 by four scientists and executives: neuroscientist Professor Allan Snyder, chip-designer Neil Weste, and technology entrepreneurs Tan...
) by Cody Brocious
Cody Brocious
-Biography:Cody William Brocious was born in Waukegan, Illinois, the son of a Naval Drug and Alcohol counselor. He moved to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania at the age of 3 and became interested in computing by the age of 4...
. It was built by reverse-engineering the encrypted protocol. Emokit has been deprecated in favour of emokit.
In 2011 Make Magazine published an article on hacking NeuroSky headsets
EEGLAB
EEGLAB
EEGLAB is a MATLAB toolbox distributed under the free GNU GPL license for processing data from electroencephalography , magnetoencephalography , and other electrophysiological signals. Along with all the basic processing tools, EEGLAB implements independent component analysis , time/frequency...
is a GNU Matlab
MATLAB
MATLAB is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages,...
toolbox for processing data from electroencephalography
Electroencephalography
Electroencephalography is the recording of electrical activity along the scalp. EEG measures voltage fluctuations resulting from ionic current flows within the neurons of the brain...
(EEG), can be used as neurofeedback
Neurofeedback
Neurofeedback , also called neurotherapy, neurobiofeedback or EEG biofeedback is a type of biofeedback that uses realtime displays of electroencephalography or functional magnetic resonance imaging to illustrate brain activity, often with a goal of controlling central nervous system activity...
tool.
OpenVibe
OpenVibe
OpenViBE is a software platform dedicated to designing, testing and using brain-computer interfaces. The package includes a Designer tool to create and run custom applications, along with several pre-configured and demo programs which are ready for use....
is a LGPL software platform (C++) to design, test and use BCI. The software comes with an acquisition server that is currently compatible with many EEG device including Neurosky Mindset, Emotiv EPOC (Research Edition or above) and OpenEEG. The software is developed at INRIA.
Technology
All of the devices listed use electroencephalographyElectroencephalography
Electroencephalography is the recording of electrical activity along the scalp. EEG measures voltage fluctuations resulting from ionic current flows within the neurons of the brain...
except the Neural Impulse Actuator which only uses electromyography
Electromyography
Electromyography is a technique for evaluating and recording the electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles. EMG is performed using an instrument called an electromyograph, to produce a record called an electromyogram. An electromyograph detects the electrical potential generated by muscle...
.
Some use both electroencephalography
Electroencephalography
Electroencephalography is the recording of electrical activity along the scalp. EEG measures voltage fluctuations resulting from ionic current flows within the neurons of the brain...
and electromyography
Electromyography
Electromyography is a technique for evaluating and recording the electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles. EMG is performed using an instrument called an electromyograph, to produce a record called an electromyogram. An electromyograph detects the electrical potential generated by muscle...
, such as the MindWave, EPOC, and MindSet.