Mindflex

Mindflex is a toy by Mattel which uses brain waves to steer a ball through an obstacle course. The brain waves are captured with the enclosed EEG headset, which allows the user to speed up or slow down a fan, thus lifting or lowering the blue styrofoam ball. The game was released in the fall of 2009 ^[1]. There has been criticism by scientists whether the toy actually measures brain waves or just randomly moves the ball, exploiting the well-known illusion of control ^[2][3]. However, despite the Spiegel/Haynes experiments, supporters of the game believe that the headset does read EEGs (it uses the same chip as the MindSet from NeuroSky and has been used in homebuilt EEG machines).^[4]. A more dubious hack was to use it to control an electric shock device.^[5]

See also

• Comparison of consumer brain-computer interface devices

References

1. ^ Scott Stein (June 26, 2009), "Moving objects with Mattel's brainwave-reading Mindflex", CNET News, http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10274050-1.html 
2. ^ Hilmar Schmundt (February 22, 2010), "Aberglaube im Kinderzimmer", Der Spiegel, http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/0,1518,679480,00.html  (In German)
3. ^ Hilmar Schmundt (May 11, 2011), "Wenn der Ball nicht macht, was der Kopf will", Der Spiegel, http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/technik/0,1518,761169,00.html  (In German)
4. ^ Eric Mika (April 7, 2010), How to Hack Toy EEGs, http://ericmika.com/itp/brain-hack 
5. ^ http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/03/mindflex-hack/