Recent News
Is this the Future ???
15th December 2009
Japanese carmaker Toyota has developed new technology that allows a wheelchair to be steered using the power of brain waves.
Without the person in the seat moving a muscle or uttering a command, the chair picks up their brain waves via a special cap.The brain signals are relayed to a brain scan electroencephalograph, or EEG, on the electrically-powered wheelchair, and are then analysed by a computer program.
Requiring only 125 milliseconds, or 125 thousandths of a second, the system allows the person in the wheelchair to turn left or right and go forward almost instantly.
However, coming to a stop requires the passenger to puff up a cheek to be detected by a detector worn on the face.
The technology, which has been created by Toyota and researchers in Japan, is among the fastest in the world in analysing brain waves and is designed to revolutionise mobility solutions for disabled people.
Toyota's rival Honda is also working on a system which connects the monitoring of brain waves with mechanical moves.
But neither Honda or Toyota say they have plans to turn the technology into a product for commercial sale as they are still developing the research.
