It’s always good to know some big companies don’t forget to come up with technological innovations that aren’t aimed at a large or wealthy group of consumers. In this case, Toyota has announced the development of a system that makes it possible for drivers to control wheelchairs with their thoughts alone. And it supposedly works excellent.
The system is able to analyze brain wave controls in as little as 125ms (similar products require a few seconds to work), which makes Toyota speak of control in real-time. It even can “learn” by analyzing the behavior of the driver, meaning that the driver can improve the performance of the system over time.
The wheelchair will move forward, for example, when the driver thinks of walking. Very cool, even though drivers are required to wear an EEG scanner cap. According to Toyota (and the other organizations involved in the development), the wheelchair is able to understand a record 95% of all commands coming from the drivers.
Watch the video [JP] to see the wheelchair in action.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmenGuc21qY&w=425&h=344]
Via Asahi Shimbun [JP]
