I just got to try an EPOC (made by Emotiv). It’s a 14 lead EEG headset that interfaces with a proprietary software (the model that allows you to access raw EEG data and use the SDK is about $600 more expensive), and allows you to train the system for various things, such as making an object move, rotate, or disappear. There’s also a facial motion system that senses what facial expression you’re making, including eye blinking, and mimics it on screen (it has a 2 axis gyro, so it cheats a little bit, but it’s pretty accurate for the most part).

I would imagine that the EEG data is far too noisy and inaccurate for actual detection of motion center activation; most likely it performs change detection in the EEG data and maps that to the activity being trained for.

It’s super exciting to see body sensing devices like this and various myoelectric sensor gaining traction in the market – next steps could be implantable EEGS (implantable myo sensors already exist!). I’ve got some op amps at home begging to be made into a myoelectric sensor setup… Maybe I’ll do some experimenting this weekend!