The new sport of drone racing is so popular that it has already landed a spot on ESPN television. But a new twist could soon turn the sport into something that looks less like geeks flying planes and more like Jedi's attempting to use the Force against each other.
The Human-Experience Research Lab (HXRL) at the University of Florida claims to have created the first brain-controlled drone race. Using Emotiv brain computer interface (BCI) devices, which utilize EEG brain activity data, the racers must focus on a graphic in a software program and attempt to think of pushing that graphic forward, thus producing electrical signals that affect the trajectory of the drone.
Researchers have been experimenting with this brain-controlled drone idea for a couple of years, but now that drones have entered the mainstream in the last 12 months, expect to see more focus on this particular area of drone control.