Coming soon: toys that read players’ brain waves

A twin of Darth Vader stalks the cubicles of a Silicon Valley office, complete with ominous black mask, cape and light saber.

But this is no Halloween costume. It’s a prototype, years in the making, of a toy that incorporates brain-wave-reading technology.

Behind the mask is a sensor that touches the user’s forehead and reads the brain’s electrical signals, then sends them to a wireless receiver inside the saber, which lights up when the user is concentrating.

The player maintains focus by channeling thoughts on any fixed mental image, or thinking specifically about keeping the light sword on. When the mind wanders, the wand goes dark.

Engineers at NeuroSky Inc. have big plans for brain-wave-reading toys and video games. They say the simple Darth Vader game -- a relatively crude biofeedback device -- portends the coming of more sophisticated devices that could revolutionize the way people play.

Technology from NeuroSky and other start-ups could make video games more mentally stimulating and realistic. It could even enable players to control video game characters in virtual worlds with nothing but their thoughts.

Boosters say toys with even the most basic brain-wave-reading technology -- scheduled to debut later this year -- could boost mental focus and help children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism and mood disorders.

But scientific research is scant.

Elkhonon Goldberg, clinical professor of neurology at New York University, said the toys might catch on in a society obsessed with optimizing performance -- but he was skeptical that they would reduce the severity of major behavioral disorders. “These techniques are used usually in clinical contexts. The gaming companies are trying to push the envelope,” Goldberg said.

It’s also unclear whether consumers, particularly kids, want mentally taxing games.

The basis of many brain-wave-reading games is electroencephalography, or EEG, the measurement of the brain’s electrical activity through electrodes placed on the scalp.

An EEG headset in a research hospital may have 100 or more electrodes that attach to the scalp with a conductive gel. It could cost tens of thousands of dollars. But the price and size of EEG hardware are shrinking. NeuroSky’s sensors don’t require gel, are the size of a thumbnail and could be put into a headset that retails for as little as $20, NeuroSky Chief Executive Stanley Yang said.

Whereas NeuroSky’s headset has one electrode, San Francisco-based Emotiv Systems Inc. has developed a headset with 18 sensors.

Emotiv’s bulkier headset detects brain waves indicating smiles, blinks, laughter, even conscious thoughts and unconscious emotions. Players could kick or punch their video game opponent -- without a joystick or mouse.

“It fulfills the fantasy of telekinesis,” said Tan Le, co-founder and president of Emotiv. The 30-person company hopes to begin selling a consumer headset next year.

CyberLearning Technology took a different approach. The San Marcos, Calif.-based start-up targets doctors, therapists and parents of adolescents with autism, impulse control problems and other developmental disorders.

CyberLearning has sold more than 1,500 systems since early 2005. The company hopes to reach adolescents already being treated for behavior disorders. But co-founder Lindsay Greco said the budding niche was unpredictable.

“Our biggest struggle is to find the target market,” he said. “We’re finding that parents are using this to improve their own recall and focus. We have executives who use it to improve their memory, even their golf.”