Intelligent wearing of the Mind Revolution: Inventory of domestic and foreign brain wave wearable equipment

Refers to the wearing of wearable equipment, we often think of a variety of smart glasses, virtual reality helmet, in fact, the detection of brain waves of products will also be a head-wearing intelligent products an important area.

Brain detection is not a new technology, as early as the 20 's, humans have recorded the first human electroencephalogram (EEG), and found that with the different state regularity of the brain frequency changes. For example, in a relaxed state, the frequency of the brain wave is 8-13hz, named Alpha Wave; in the state of concentration, the frequency increases to the beta wave of the 13-30hz. These laws are applicable to all mankind, and have laid the foundation of EEG research and clinical application. Subsequently, the brain science community has also discovered different brain wave frequency bands, classifies it. At present, the brain science recognized by the brain Wave classification standard roughly as follows table:

At present, most of the brain wave smart wear products are based on the above principles of operation. Compared with the traditional brain wave equipment in the medical military field, these brain-wave products are smaller in volume, lower in cost, more convenient to wear and can be operated by users without special coaching. At the same time, with the mobile internet, coupled with a series of apps, can enhance the user experience, but also open a lot of brain waves of the possibility of civilian. Let's take a look at these head-worn brain wave products.

Necomimi: The most Meng Brain wave products

Neocomimi Brain Wave cat ears from the Japanese manufacturers Neurowear, is a female and cosplay enthusiasts as the goal of intelligent brain wave products. As long as it is on top of the head, the brain wave sensors on the head will detect and automatically analyze the observed brain waves and make corresponding representations as the human mood swings. For example, when you concentrate, you will stand up, and when you are tired, it will lie flat. Although in the interaction is relatively single, but its extremely Meng modelling, the novel concept, plus the more friendly people's price (contract RMB 300 yuan), or is deeply favored by the target crowd.

Mindflex: The first brain wave toy

Mindflex from the famous toy giant Mattel, its strong channel and marketing system makes Mindflex the most widely known brain wave products. Wear matching headphones, as long as you focus, headphones will receive your brain waves, sensors will react, so that the blue ball floating in the air, you can use the mind to control its height (the more concentrated the idea, the higher the ball floating), and then go over a variety of small obstacles. Although the Mindflex is more like a game toy, but its magical fluttering ball interaction feeling can inspire many curious person's purchase impulse. Mindflex is also the current civilian brain wave products shipments the highest, accumulated about 4 million units, but also became the Amazon platform toy sales champion.

Mindwave: Designed for industry-level applications

Mindwave is the American God of Science and technology NeuroSky company launched a brain-wave headset. NeuroSky is already well-known as a supplier of bio-electric sensor chips in the area of smart wear, including EEG and ECG. Many of the products mentioned in this article adopt their solutions and are the highest in the market share of brain wave solutions.

Mindwave is a NeuroSky product for industry applications and developers. It is safe to catch brain waves and output EEG power spectrum, different brain wave patterns will emit different amplitude and frequency of brain waves. For example, when a brain wave is between 12 and 30Hz, the beta wave indicates that the brain is in a state of concentration. When the brain waves are 8 to 12Hz, the alpha wave indicates that the brain is in a state of calm and relaxation. The whole equipment is composed of the head hoop, the ear clamp and the sensor header, the ear clamp is equipped with the reference electrode and the grounding electrode, the EEG electrode is located in the sensor head, and the equipment also has a AAA battery, which lasts for 8 hours. At present, many developers, institutions, laboratories and industry applications are used in this section of Mindwave products, brain wave industry's ecological chain system has begun to take shape.

Interaxon Muse: The most compact brain-wave wearable product

Interaxon Muse, a start-up company based in Toronto, Canada, Interaxon the company's plan to buy rumors that made the firm gain the media's attention. Muse is the Interaxon platform Indiegogo project, raised 300,000 of dollars in success, in August 2013 won the 6 million dollar a round of financing.

Muse's shape can be said to be the most concise and compact brain wave products. Equipped with 6 sensors, connected to terminal equipment via Bluetooth. Through the introduction to the current Muse already has a buoys app to help users into the brain relaxed state, will also encourage more developers to participate in the production of more applications. It is understood that Interaxon Muse will not be compatible with other manufacturers of the app, intends to build their own developer ecosystem. At present, NeuroSky has already constructed a brain wave product ecological chain to take shape, form the direct competition, this is a not small test for Interaxon. But there will be more options for developers and downstream collaborators, and the development of a brain wave product will also be a driving role.

Brainlink: A wide range of brain-wave products

This brainlink idea Force head hoop comes from the domestic macro intelligence technology, is the first civilian brain-wave wearable products, the use of detachable design, the sensor stent and the core processing module separation, increased the flexibility of the stent accessories, for example, you can access the Core module Yoga soft belt or sports cap, such as wearing clothing, With different head type, optimize wearing comfort, adapt to more use scene. At the same time, the product also equipped with an intelligent induction lamp called emolight, can determine the wearer of different brain state display different colors of light.

Unlike Interaxon's strategy, Brainlink chose to integrate the out-of-the-box developer ecosystem, which is compatible with most of NeuroSky's apps, while the authorities also offer more than 20 applications, mainly for children's brain enhancement and urban white-collar relaxation and decompression, Is the use of more abundant brain wave products.

Emotiv Epoc: For professional gamers

Epoc from the American brain wave products manufacturer Emotiv, is a pc-based platform for professional players to build brain wave products. The biggest difference is that the number of sensors is more than the above products, the advantage is to detect more brain wave signals, to achieve more control methods, such as around and so on.

But too much of the sensor head to greatly increase the difficulty of wearing, and each use to go through a user's brain wave recognition process, more cumbersome, so currently in the market rarely see this product, only to see some institutions and research institutions in the application of the report. Emotiv for the EPOC positioning strategy has also changed, from the beginning of professional players into the rehabilitation of disabled people and other research directions.

Emotiv Insight: Upgraded version Emotiv Epoc

The insight is a new generation of brain wave products that emotiv the company after Epoc, which simplifies the design, reduces the number of sensors and makes the target population more popular. Insight is also a public product, in the Kickstarter to a staggering 600,000 of dollars of amazing results. As the product has not been officially available, the specific application and experience feel no more information, but from the relevant information to understand that insight has and epoc the same powerful function of EEG data analysis, to help users understand the state of their brains.

Summary

Brain products of the civilian has been a number of pioneers, this area although most of the foreign manufacturers mainly, there are some like Brainlink in the team are doing.

At present, because the technology is still in the primary stage, the civilian brain-wave wearable products mostly remain in the entertainment, health, education field. These products show us an exciting but controversial future: with the development of brain wave technology, perhaps one day we will connect the brain to the Internet to achieve the ultimate "idea" of human-computer interaction. But at the same time, we have to face the thinking of privacy, security, ethics and so on.