Brain Driver A Game made for disabled people
Researchers in Switzerland have developed a technology which allows people with severely impaired motor functions to play video games, using only their brains.
The game, called ‘Brain Driver‘ on which their technology of understanding the brain signals and then converting it to machine-understandable language is being used by those with severely impaired motor functions like quadriplegics. The main aim of the research is to build a technology whereby wheelchairs can be easily controlled by the brains’ of their users. So that the brainpower of these people can help them take over the control of the wheelchair by their own brain signals.
Samuel Kunz, a paralyzed person who was involved in an accident, is helping scientists in the “Brain Driver” program as being a part of it. He operates a car in the game by imagining the instructions & directions in which he wants to move the vehicle inside the game.
For instance, if he thinks about his right hand, the car will automatically go right, and if he wants the car to left, he has to imagine the left side.
If Samuel wants to accelerate the car to go forward, then he has to think about his both hand at the same time and to stop the vehicle, he has to simply calm his mind down.
But Samuel says that this is not easy, “I have to be very focused. The connection between my fingers and my brain is not there anymore. I still try to move my fingers just in my head and so that needs a lot of concentration to do it exactly the same way every time.“
How this technology works?
Dr. Rea Lehner said that the technology works by brain signals of the user. She explains, “So these electrodes are connected to an amplifier and then to the computer and our algorithms in the end. The algorithms are then calculating the brain signals of the user and sending instructions and commands to the game that our pilot can actually control.” She said we have to make sure that we filter out any muscle activity so that what we have only left is the pure and complete brain signal.
Nicole Wenderoth, a professor at Zurich for neural control of movement, explains what their biggest problem to solve during the project was. He said, “The skull is an excellent insulator, and obviously it protects your brain, that is something worth being thankful for; however it also protects the signals that your brain is producing from us who want to read them.“
Next Year in 2020, the Cybathlon Championships will be held in Zurich and will host individuals with physical disabilities from everywhere throughout the world so they could utilize the most recent innovation in the competition.
Researchers said that the game “Brain Driver” will be exhibited during the Cybathlon Championships.
Lets us know what your thoughts about this vast world-changing innovation are.
