Thanks to the brain-computer interface (BCI) technology being developed in Europe light switches, TV remote controls and even house keys could become a thing of the past.
"The BCI lets people turn on lights, change channels on the TV or open doors just by thinking about it," said Christoph Guger, the CEO of Austrian medical engineering company g.tec that developed the technology.
The technology, which was demonstrated at CeBIT in Hannover in March, provides an innovative way of controlling the interconnected electronic devices that will populate the smart homes of the future, granting increased autonomy to people with physical disabilities as well as pleasing TV channel-surfing couch potatoes.
Electroencephalogram (EEG) equipment is used to monitor electrical activity in a user's brain via electrodes attached to their scalp.
After a period of training, the system learns to identify the distinctive patterns of neuronal activity produced when they imagine walking forwards, flicking on a light switch or turning up the radio, the Science Daily online reported.