Arnav Kapur, a graduate of MIT’s coveted Media Lab has developed an intelligent augmented (IA) project called Alter Ego, a computer system that transcribes words a user has spoken silently in their head. The system internally vocalizes a command or question in a user’s brain. The electric signals sent by the brain to the vocal chords are intercepted and sent to the computer instead. The information is then communicated into the user’s ear through vibrations. It sounds like searching something on Google, but only silently in your head.
Kapur’s year-long research was recently featured on a popular TV show called 60 Minutes, where he answered questions answered by the host by silently Googling them in his head. He also ordered a pizza for the crew, only by thinking!
Arnav Kapur, a student in MIT’s Media Lab, has developed a system to surf the internet with his mind. He silently Googled our questions and heard the answers through vibrations transmitted through his skull and into his inner ear. pic.twitter.com/aN76Jn4AHv
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) April 22, 2018
Communicating in his head with the gadget, Kapur answered the quotient of 45,689 divided by 67. Not just mathematics, he also named the largest city in Bulgaria and also identified its population. He communicated all of this, without physically interacting with the device!
The system comprises of a wearable device and a linked computer system. The internal verbalization of words is undetectable to the human eye as these signals go into a machine-learning system that correlates incoming signals with respective words. The device also comes with a pair of bone-conduction headphones that transmit vibrations through the bones of the face to the inner ear. Through the headphones, the system is enabled to convey information in such a way that it does not interrupt a conversation or interfere with its listening experience.
Would you like to have a go at this gadget? Share your thoughts.
Image Source: CBS News
