Scientists open doors with the power of the mind

A mock-up of a home controlled by the power of thought has been successfully piloted by a hospital in Italy

Scientists showed that people could open doors or operate lights, a telephone, a small robot and even a robotic hand by wearing a strip of electrodes on their head to pick up brainwaves that signal "interest" and send them to a computer that interprets them as desired actions.

we are capable of 85% accuracy in the computer interpreting a subject's desired action

"A 10-minute familiarisation session is usually enough,"

"The type of brainwave we pinpoint is common to nearly all people when making this 'focusing interest' thought."

To demonstrate, one of the Santa Lucia team wore a fabric headset connected to the BCI and could open doors, switch on a fan or adjust lights by concentrating on a menu on a monitor. Two to three attempts are usually needed for each action.

He predicts that within three years such a system would be of practical