Mind-Controlled Wheelchair

Yes, you have read the title correctly. Although it sounds crazy, a University of Electro-Communications team of researchers led by Professor Kazuo Tanaka have come up with technology and produced a prototype for an electric wheelchair that is controlled using your mind. All you have to do is think which way you would like the wheelchair to go and as if by magic, it turns!

The wheelchair comes equipped with a skull cap full of sensors that read the brain waves in order to figure out which direction you would like to go, enabling the user to control the wheelchairÂ’s direction simply by thinking move left or move right. Tests have shown that the wheelchair has an 80% degree of accuracy in interpreting the userÂ’s intentions and moving in the desired direction.

Obviously it needs more work being only 80% effective but this is certainly a breakthrough for disabled users who traditionally use joysticks to control their wheelchairs. Just make sure you don’t think about going the wrong way.

Yes, you have read the title correctly. Although it sounds crazy, a University of Electro-Communications team of researchers led by Professor Kazuo Tanaka have come up with technology and produced a prototype for an electric wheelchair that is controlled using your mind. All you have to do is think which way you would like the wheelchair to go and as if by magic, it turns!

The wheelchair comes equipped with a skull cap full of sensors that read the brain waves in order to figure out which direction you would like to go, enabling the user to control the wheelchairÂ’s direction simply by thinking move left or move right. Tests have shown that the wheelchair has an 80% degree of accuracy in interpreting the userÂ’s intentions and moving in the desired direction.

Obviously it needs more work being only 80% effective but this is certainly a breakthrough for disabled users who traditionally use joysticks to control their wheelchairs. Just make sure you don’t think about going the wrong way.