China's Xiaomi teases tech to control smart homes with brain waves
- Reference: 1659524407
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/08/03/xiaomi_brainwave_tech/
- Source link:
Described in a post to China's Twitter analog, [1]Weibo , the device emerged from a recent in-house hackathon. An accompanying video shows the device connecting to a smartphone, which displays brainwaves.
In the video, the device's inventors suggest it could monitor brainwaves for signs of fatigue while driving, or be used to control appliances.
[2]
The Register 's spoken Chinese is nowhere near able to keep up with the video, so we're unable to report any info on the tech powering the deice.
[3]
[4]
Xiaomi mentioned the device in the context of recently crowdfunded products, so production does not seem impossible.
Brainwave detection tech is not new. In about 2004 your correspondent saw it applied to measure and display the cranial condition of professional rugby players in Australia. The team's coaches used the tech to show players how to reach certain emotional states, so they could respond appropriately under pressure on the field.
[5]
The team that used the tech won the championship in the year they employed it.
[6]Chinese smartphone sales sink to levels not seen since 2012
[7]Xiaomi adds earthquake alert system to some smartphones
[8]Xiaomi adds earthquake alert system to some smartphones
The brainwave reading rig I beheld was a clunky cap. Xiaomi's video of the prototype – and the company's renders of a shiny wireless device – do not appear to represent unlikely levels of miniaturisation.
Why you'd wander about your home wearing an electrified headband to control lights and appliances when smartphones already allow voice command is not explained.
Nor does Xiaomi's video appear to touch on the terrifying possibility that China's pervasive surveillance state might one day use such tech to divine users' innermost thoughts. ®
Get our [9]Tech Resources
[1] https://weibo.com/1771925961/LF8RNFREW?pagetype=profilefeed
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YuqbtrTHWtirb@Gv3EHVhwAAAFM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YuqbtrTHWtirb@Gv3EHVhwAAAFM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YuqbtrTHWtirb@Gv3EHVhwAAAFM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YuqbtrTHWtirb@Gv3EHVhwAAAFM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/27/chinese_smartphone_sales_sink/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/05/xiaomi_indonesia_smartphone_earthquake_warnings/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/05/xiaomi_indonesia_smartphone_earthquake_warnings/
[9] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
It would be cheaper to let them comment on ElReg and monitor downvotes...
What's the breakthrough?
" An accompanying video shows the device connecting to a smartphone, which displays brainwaves. "
So they've "invented" a crude [1]EEG (1924). Making it adjust your room thermostat is a rather different challenge. I wonder whether they'll manage it. I've done some work on EEG signals, and they're far from easy to interpret except in broad categoric terms. They are intrinsically quite variable and suffer from a lot of disturbing noise (e.g. eye blink) that can seriously distort them.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroencephalography#History
Re: What's the breakthrough?
There is nothing worse than coming home from work and discovering someone played with thermostat again.
One of the benefits of WFH is that you can keep an eye on the thermostat and ensure nobody touches it.
Right...
We don't trust Chinese-made network equipment for "sensitive" installations, but we'll let the Chinese read our minds? Eh, no...
Sense
I wonder if it senses that you think about Xitler or forced labour camps and then if you do, whether it zaps you.
Re: Sense
That's in Version 2...
Ah.
Reality has caught up with movie magic. Way back when, Clint Eastwood played a pilot shanghied into, ah, borrowing a new Ruskie fighter aircraft, which used thought control… in Russian. Why do I suspect that this thing would want commands in Chinese unless you went to a lot of trouble to ‘train’ it? (And would probably send the Chinese version of the command home to the Pooh Bear?)
There is not sufficient no-ness in the world to describe my attitude towards this thing.
"measure and display the cranial condition of professional rugby players in Australia. The team's coaches used the tech to show players how to reach certain emotional states"
A better use would have been to monitor for brain damage.