Written by Lan 2022 Cohort
On November 19th, a special “Fortnite” offline game was held in an e-sports cafe in Shibuya, Japan. The rules of the competition are straightforward. The only thing players need to do is control the characters to run from the starting point to the finish line. However, unlike regular competitions, almost all the contestants in this competition are disabled people with limited physical functions. The way is to use your own brain waves to control the character to move around.
The Ushiba research team from Japan organized the competition. To publicize and promote the team’s research results in the brain-computer interface over the years and bring more attention to people with mobility disabilities, neuroscientist Junichi Ushiba and his team deliberately catered to the trend of young people by organizing this event in the form of a gaming tournament.
Even though their brain-computer interface is already operational, playing the game with the mind is more challenging than it could be. Only two of the five players in the competition completed the not-so-long journey. In an interview, one of the eliminated players talked about his feelings: “In my head, I thought, ‘Move!’ and it moved, but if you want to turn, you just can’t do it right; it’s too hard.”
However, the demonstration of the brain-computer interface is not limited to games. For patients suffering from diseases and unable to move, the necessary mobile tools in life may be the immediate need. In the competition venue, the scooters used by the players are also driven by brain waves. In actual performance, they can already meet the most basic daily needs.
Professor Ushiba’s idea, he believes that brain-computer interface and VR have the same effect. Training brain waves in a virtual world like “Fortnite” can not only avoid the risk of injury but also bring joy to the training and even reflect the training results in the real world. Although the current brain wave detection technology still needs to progress, this step from zero to one is still crucial.
“We hope that in the future, everyone can enjoy themselves on the same platform, regardless of whether they have a disability or their brain or body is impaired. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are all critical, and achieving such a future in the form of brain-computer interfaces is a goal we are striving for.”