China's Xiaomi teases tech to control smart homes with brain waves

Chinese consumer electronics outfit Xiaomi has teased a device that it says will allow users to control their home using brainwaves. Described in a post to China's Twitter analog, Weibo, the device emerged from a recent in-house hackathon. An accompanying video shows the device connecting to a smartphone, which displays …

[Doctor Syntax]

"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.

[elsergiovolador]

It would be cheaper to let them comment on ElReg and monitor downvotes...

[Mike 137]

What's the breakthrough?

"An accompanying video shows the device connecting to a smartphone, which displays brainwaves."

So they've "invented" a crude 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.

[elsergiovolador]

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.

[The Oncoming Scorn]

Re: What's the breakthrough?

With Alexa you don't need to touch it.

That leads to very interesting arguments at home as to who fiddled with the AC temp again.

Bottom half of the house experiences a new ice-age, upstairs doesn't.

Icon - This works for me on the cooling stakes

[spold]

Re: What's the breakthrough?

So politicians will be sitting in the dark wondering why it is cold....

[DerekCurrie]

Re: What's the breakthrough?

"So they've "invented" a crude EEG (1924). Making it adjust your room thermostat is a rather different challenge. I wonder whether they'll manage it."

...Sure, if Xiaomi can find new research and IP to rip off.

[Anonymous Coward]

Right...

We don't trust Chinese-made network equipment for "sensitive" installations, but we'll let the Chinese read our minds? Eh, no...

[elsergiovolador]

Sense

I wonder if it senses that you think about Xitler or forced labour camps and then if you do, whether it zaps you.

[lglethal]

Re: Sense

That's in Version 2...

[WolfFan]

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.

[Ken Hagan]

Re: Ah.

There's no way this thing can drill down as far as language. As suggested above, it is almost certainly an EEG-like device and, with training, might manage a 1 bit per second comms channel between your head and the outside world.

More likely, it just doesn't work and is a scam to extract cash from stupid people. They do have those in China, I'm sure. (Scams, that is.)

[David 132]

Re: Ah.

I remember that movie. I think it was named Chrome, or Brave, or Safari, or something along those lines.

[Cuddles]

Nearly getting it

"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."

Why you'd wander about your home shouting at your phone to control lights and appliances when they already allow simple switch controls is not explained.