Google Glass is taking advantage of some futuristic applications

Jul 10, 2014 07:10 GMT  ·  By

Back in March, we brought you the story of an app developed by the San Diego-based company Emotient, called Sentiment Analysis.

What made this piece of software special was the fact that used in concert with Google’s controversial Glass product, it gave users the ability to read the emotions of others based on facial expression decoding.

But if this invention isn't advanced enough for you, we have another one to tell you about. A London-based team has taken up the effort of creating a Google Glass app that can be controlled with the power of the mind.

The MindRDR app works alongside with the Google Glass and an extra head-mounted piece of hardware (dubbed the Neurosky EEG biosensor) in order to set up the system needed for the magic to happen.

The Neurosky biosensor is used to pick up your brainwaves and translate them into meter reading. This in turn gets superimposed on the camera view in Google Glass.

The brainwaves will intensify as you focus more, and when this happens, the meter will go up. So if you focus enough, you can get the Glass camera to snap a photo, and if you focus even more, the picture goes directly to social media.

Surely, at this stage the app + headgear bundle isn't ready for mass commercialization. Heck, snapping a photograph and posting it via social media isn't a big deal, if you take the whole mind reading part out of the equation, so the team might want to expand the functionality by adding more features.

Since taking advantage of MindRDR involves snapping on two different pieces of headgear, the team will also have to refine the way future adopters will be using the bundle.

But the idea behind the product is quite inspiring. MindRDR could be transformed into a great tool for teaching people how to focus better, something that could be thought of as modern yoga.

This is how you use the MindRDR bundle
This is how you use the MindRDR bundle
Consider the countless possible applications. For example, the sensor picks up the fact that you’re tired and it knows you’re driving, so it sends out warnings and suggests that you stop at a motel and get a few hours of good rest.

The software could also be a God-sent gift for people who have been affected with serious conditions like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which renders some patients unable to move.

MindRDR is made up of two pieces
MindRDR is made up of two pieces
Surely, the Google Glass is a product that has been frown upon many times, but the head-piece has certainly pushed developers to be creative, as we can see in case of MindRDR and the emotion-tracking app we have been telling you about.

For the time being, MindRDR is the only known app capable of reading and interpreting human brainwaves. The app is available for download for free but you’ll also need to pick up the Neurosky headset, which will take you back with €89 / $121. And, of course, you’ll need to throw in the extra $1,500 / £1,000 for a pair of Google Glass.

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This app can read your mind
This is how you use the MindRDR bundleMindRDR is made up of two pieces
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