Toyota and Honda, Hot on the Trail of Brain Wave Controlled Steering
Asimo, originally uploaded by And… Action!
While you may never actually see this on a vehicle in your lifetime, it is comforting to know that Toyota and Honda are hot on the trail of some pretty nifty brain wave steering mechanisms. At the moment the rather crude system uses a large cap on the head, so bad hair days would unfortunately be a regular occurrence (okay, so this is problem number one).
The cap is programmed to read the brains EEG waves within 125 thousandths of a second, analyze them, and then make the appropriate motion as to what the cap wearer is wishing to do. In the past, these types of system were rather slow to read waves, and therefore the lag time between commands was too long to actually make anything functional of this technology.
Currently, Toyota has the system hooked-up to a wheelchair. Thanks to the newer quicker processing ability, the wheelchair driver has so far shown the ability to cruise forward, switching between right and left turns almost immediately after the thought. Unfortunately, as reliable as the system appears to be, it is still not quite 100 percent guaranteed.
Considering that stopping is one of the key safety functions of any wheelchair, such as when you are approaching a 4-way street corner, Toyota is still relying on mechanical facial expressions (problem number two) to accomplish the stopping motion. Each helmet is fitted with a facial expression detector which is programmed to stop each time it senses the driver puffing one cheek (the face, not the rear).
We still have a ways to go before any of this technology is considered for automotive applications, but we are definitely on the right track. Honda is working on a similar concept, except instead of using a wheelchair they are using a robot. The robot is known as Asimo, and has shown itself capable of being controlled via brain waves, such as in moving its arms up and down by the controllers wishes.
Okay, so it maybe one small arm raise for a robot… but it’s one giant, How do you do, for mankind!
Source: Los Angeles Times
