Neurotechnology is advancing in leaps and bounds, and a number of great new products are coming out to reflect this. For example, a couple of days ago we wrote about the NeuroSky MindWave. Another one of these new products is called the EPOC Neuroheadset, by Emotiv, and it claims to have a revolutionary interface for human computer interaction.
As of right now, the EPOC headset does not have a HUGE number of applications, however we should start to see many more of them in the near future. Essentially the EPOC headset is currently mostly for gaming, and will replace the handheld controllers of today.
The headset is made up of 14 electrodes that are located around the head, and it also has a two-axis gyro for detecting your head movements. The device can detect cognitive movements like tilting your head, emotions, like excitement and frustration, and facial expressions, like smiling or frowning.
While I did say before that the EPOC currently does not have a large number of different applications, the number of applications is growing, and software development kits are available for it. Users have even been able to use the EPOC for things like controlling cars. The headset also ships with a demo game entitled Spirit Mountain, which is a first person virtual environment game.
The headset connects wirelessly via USB, and is compatible with Windows, OS X, Ubuntu Linux and Fedora Linux. Currently it is mainly for developers rather than consumers, though it could prove to be a very interesting device, even if you only use it with the game that it ships with.
