

Astonishing advances in the ability to harness brain waves have made the fantastic notion of moving and controlling objects with the mind possible. Now neuroscientists are grappling with another challenge: Find a “killer app” that will demonstrate the true potential of tapping into brain waves and ignite the neurotechnology revolution.

Medicine, perhaps? Education? Try video games.

In the past decade, video games have helped push cutting-edge technologies such as sensor-based computing — Nintendo’s Wii — and gesture-based computing — Microsoft’s Kinect — into the mainstream. Neurotech boosters hope video games can do the same for their budding industry.

In a sign of how serious they are about courting the video-gaming industry, the two camps staged the NeuroGaming Conference & Expo earlier this month in San Francisco, the first event of its kind, according to organizers.

“Now is the time to bring these communities together,” said Zack Lynch, the conference organizer and founder of the Neurotech Industry Organization. “We want to start the conversation to see where we could actually take these technologies and to begin to create new experiences that really push the boundaries of reality.”

The event drew 300 people, including entrepreneurs, neuroscientists and venture capitalists, anyone who organizers believe could help spark the ideas that could create a full-blown neurotech industry.

The ability to read brain waves has been around at least since the 1920s through a technique for capturing the brain’s electrical impulses called electroencephalography, or EEG, by attaching sensors to the head. Now, brain waves can be read by small sensors that continue to become more powerful and less expensive.

At the same time, sensors of various kinds are being built into all sorts of gadgets, such as smartphones and health-monitoring wristbands. Observers say this is making people more comfortable with the idea of wearing technology that includes sensors to collect tremendous amounts of the most intimate data.


In one corner, San Jose, Calif.-based NeuroSky let people use one of its brain-wave-reading headsets (some of which cost less than $100) to fly the Puzzlebox Orbit, a small helicopter developed by a partner. The helicopter goes up and down based on the level of the person’s focus and level of relaxation.

The closest thing to an actual video game on display in the exhibit hall was NeuroStorm, a demonstration game built by Intific, a company based in Peckville, Pa. In this game, a player still uses a regular handheld controller to aim and fire at objects. A headset measures the player’s brain waves to detect levels of calm and focus, which are rewarded with higher scores. Achieving a calm state of mind amid chaos improves accuracy.

“We need a couple of clever developers to come up with some killer apps,” said Chris Berka, chief executive of Advanced Brain Monitoring of Carlsbad, Calif., whose brain-wave-reading headsets have been popular for diagnosing and treating people with sleep apnea.

The timing for a partnership, in many ways, is ideal because the gaming industry is struggling with sales and wants to find ways to make games more immersive by tapping into people’s nervous and sensory systems, including elements of touch, smell, emotional responses, heart rate and moisture levels on the skin.

“One thing we are very interested in is the notion of biofeedback and how it can be applied to game design,” said Mike Ambinder, an experimental psychologist who works for Bellevue-based Valve.

But for the most part, the gaming industry is just beginning to grapple with the larger challenges of incorporating brain waves and biofeedback into the gaming experience. Just how can all these new types of data and input be used to leverage new gaming experiences?

The neurotech industry still has plenty of its own hurdles. Even as the hardware has become more powerful and less expensive, some headgear requires users to apply gel to their head for the sensors to collect the brain’s signal. And there remains the question of whether most people would be willing to wear headgear of any kind, no matter how lightweight or elegant the design.

Lynch is realistic about the prospects for neurotech.

“It really comes down to designing great games and amazing experiences,” Lynch said. “You can have all the technology in the world. But unless you have an experience people want and need and desire and have fun with, then all that technology will just sit off by the wayside.”