OCZ NIA Neural Impulse Actuator

Forum members LanteanKnight and alexanderj have mentioned having experience with the NIA. I'm supposed to receive my Emotiv EPOC later this week, though it'll be a while until I have sufficient time for actually developing with it. The EPOC is considerably more expensive than the NIA, but I figured its sensor array is more sophisticated, and will be more interesting to study.

I would love to use something like this in a game like Skyrim as a type of mode switch for magic users. Imagine that you're playing a Mage or other magic user. To cast a spell you first switch to an attack stance using traditional input such as a mouse click or key press, and while you're casting you would then simply think about Fire to shoot a fire ball, or you would think about Ice to shoot an ice bolt.

If you then combine this kind of system with with hand and body tracking, the immersion level starts going off the chart! Just imagine this... Hold your hands cupped in front of you like you're going to do a Dragonball move, thinkof the type of spell you want to perform (fire, ice, etc.), and then perform the motions to release it. Given the inaccurate nature of these neural interfaces, they're probably only good for switching between two or maybe three modes. But coupled with a hand and body tracking system that can detect your stance, you can derive dozens of combinations just by holding your hands in different ways or changing your stance.

I think my brain might explode from all the fun that I could have with a system like that.

I hope there can be some kind of advanced unified hot-key system that we'll be able to use to bind a wide array of input device readings to in-game actions/macros. I've heard the tension variable for the NIA has a reasonable level of control. The gaming potential aside, I'd like to see a configuration system where a user can program conditions for gestures.
For example, scripting a gesture that processes a LEAP Motion or MYO gesture as your fire spell hand sigil, and using that as an unlock condition for the NIA-tension-threshold switch as your mind-trigger. Or the option to bind the same command to a button on a USB controller, or a foot pedal, or a MIDI keyboard key, a the swish of a HYDRA controller, or a spoken voice command, or the invocation of a melody (a la Ocarina of Time). There is an ever-growing array of input devices out there, and we need an input configuration scheme to abstract them all into simplified conditions for the developer. So every game can support every device supported by a common community-driven input integration system. Does such a platform exist? This might have to be the start of another topic.

On the NIA:

Lindblum is right. "tension variable for the NIA has a reasonable level of control"
In the lingo of NIA it is the "Muscle"-channel.
If you train yourself to have a very relaxed face, your corrugator supercilii muscles can be used to trigger "Muscle"-based actions at amazing reaction-speed and reasonably reliable.
I have Rift and NIA, and they look like combining them could be really easy. You'd only remove the rubber-headband from the NIA and insert the remains into the top of the Rift's foam-lip.
A problem is that the future of the NIA-device seems rather unclear. It was split off from OCZ into http://www.bcinet.com/ . Then BCInet ran into problems ( http://www.brightsideofnews.com/news/2011/4/12/exclusive-future-of-brain-computer-interface-endangered-by-a-ponzi-scheme-investor.aspx ) and I think it has remained in limbo ever since without doing anything actively (?). The old OCZ Nia forum has been closed/deleted as well (?).

On the Emotiv Epoc:

I don't own that device, so I wonder if the Rift and the EPOC find enough space on the same head to co-exist. If you add headphones, it'll get crowded up there for sure. Another negative thing about the Epoc is that it is DRM'ed.

On Input-device zoo:

This topic will haunt us for a while, I believe. Too many options, many mutually exclusive and might need different GUI-goodness to go with. Currently I am thinking about horizontal touchscreens to rest my hands upon. Matching the touchscreen positions to virtual touchscreens, so in the VR there could be virtual hands/fingers moving over virtual keyboards etc ...

"TheBlackBox" wrote:

On the Emotiv Epoc:

I don't own that device, so I wonder if the Rift and the EPOC find enough space on the same head to co-exist. If you add headphones, it'll get crowded up there for sure. Another negative thing about the Epoc is that it is DRM'ed.

This is were us hardware hackers come in. Software guys tell us what you want and we create. This is top on my list of hacks. I have the Epoc on order and cant wait to use it to balance the weight of the rift (Epoc controller is on back). The issue is the Rift strap. Maybe a helmet of sorts. Exciting!! I can't program my phone but I can hot glue anything. :lol:

Now that I've had a little experience with both the EPOC and OR separately, I see it would be very difficult to combine them. The EPOC I did not get too far with, I think my brain activity might be too static to move the test cube the way I'd hoped. To prepare the EPOC you have to apply saline and attach all 16 sensors, and adjust it on your head to get the best signal from all of them as you can. Even if you succeed in this, the simple act of donning the OR is going to budge the whole thing, and then you'll have to finish your calibration through Deskope view.
If you want to develop around these devices, I recommend making those separate projects unless you're confident you can handle them together. It would be nice to fly through Google Earth with the power of the mind...

Please excuse this somewhat off topic post- but I have been trying to contact TheBlackBox for 4 years now- I have been working to refactor their Project Triathlon code to a more modern qt based approach, as well as some changes to the data transforms. . . if you read this would you please respond , TheBlackBox?