Control TV with the thought for people with disabilities

March 27, 2019

Samsung has created software to control smart TVs through brainwaves. This new technology is mainly for people with disabilities. With this smart health device ,they can control TV with the thought.

Samsung has decided to try to improve the daily lives of people with physical disabilities, such as quadriplegics. She wants, indeed, to create a software which makes it possible to control the TVs thanks to the brain waves. The Swiss branch of Samsung announced the launch of a partnership with the Neuroprosthesis Center of the Federal School of Polytechnic in Lausanne for this project. During her conference in San Francisco, she presented her Samsung Galaxy Infinity, but she also took the opportunity to show a demo of a second prototype of this project.

Samsung launches into the race for telekinesis

At first, the device collects the data in order to know how the brain waves of an individual work when he wants to choose a film for example. Subsequently, they combine environmental indicators and brain information to build a model. It works with 64 sensors placed on a helmet and a look tracker. They are both connected to a computer that allows you to control the TV.

The system must then be set to recognize brain waves related to the desired action. Finally, the oculometer is used to determine which specific element of the screen (imagine, which film displayed) the user is trying to select.

By dint of use, the system will create a profile of the choices of the individual to facilitate the list of contents.

Limitations of Control TV with the thought

It still has some limitations, including the need to apply a conductive gel on the user’s skull to capture brain waves.

Some people with disabilities are not able to control their eyes. Samsung wants to remedy this problem. She would like to customize her device by only making it work with brainwaves for example. The giant wants to test the device in Swiss hospitals sometime in early 2019. It is, however, too early to say when it will be functional.

Samsung is not alone in wanting to use brainwaves to control devices. Elon Musk launched in March 2017, Neuralink. This company wants to introduce small electrodes into the brain of users to transmit their thoughts to a computer. Many other neurologists around the world are interested in this new technology in the hope of eventually replacing the tactile and voice assistants.

Accessibility first and foremost

The idea of ​​this progress is obviously not to make you more amorphous in front of your TV, but rather to make the leisure accessible to the greatest number … including the people with reduced mobility who can not necessarily make use of a remote control .

Ricardo Chavarriaga, a scientist at EPFL working on the project, said: “How can we offer accessibility to people who can not move or have extreme limitations in their movements?” The project also has its philosophical part: “We create increasingly complex technologies, always smarter, but we should not forget that these technologies are made to interact with the human”.

Martin Kathriner, head of public affairs at Samsung Electronics in Switzerland, also points out the virtues of this device that control TV with the thought without forgetting the consumer aspect: “For us, it’s a matter of accessibility. As to whether the technology will be applicable one day for the lazy professionals, I have no idea.”