A team of Japanese inventors have come with a new
device that blends the country's fascination with cuteness and its
penchant for experimental high-tech -- brainwave-controlled cat
ears.
The fluffy headwear reads users' brain activity, meaning the
ears perk up when they concentrate and then flop down again to lay
flat against the head when users enter a relaxed state of mind, say
its developers.
The gizmo is called "Necomimi" -- a play on the Japanese words
for cat and ear, but the first two syllables are also short for
"neuro communication", says Neurowear, the inventor team whose
brainchild it is.
"We were exploring new ways of communicating and we thought it
would be interesting to use brainwaves," said Neurowear's Kana
Nakano.
"Because the sensors must be attached to the head, we tried to
come up with something cute and catchy."
A promotional video shows a young woman's cat ears perk up as
she bites into a doughnut and again when she passes a young man in
a park, only to flatten as she apparently brushes off the missed
encounter, relaxes and smiles.
The prototype model has been developed in black and white
versions with a sensor produced by a Silicon Valley-based partner
company.
Neurowear hopes to market the device by the end of the year in
Japan and elsewhere. It has not yet set a price.
The team behind the invention includes a robotics expert, a
technology consultant and an advertising agency, who between them
have spent five months so far developing the Necomimi.
Brainwave sensors, which detect electrical currents flowing
through the brain, have been used in medical devices but also
robotics and toys.
"Brainwave sensors used for medical equipment cost several
million yen (tens of thousands of dollars) and can only be used by
hospitals and other specialised agencies," the group's Tomonori
Kagaya told AFP.
"But falling costs have allowed people like us to seek
interesting ways to use the sensors," he said.
"Existing toys featuring brainwaves focus on controlling
brainwaves. Meanwhile, Necomimi can reveal a user's state of mind.
In that sense, we are proposing a new communication tool."
The Necomimi video can be seen at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XznibGFPGHk
