From their website, “As any parent will tell you a child’s imagination is boundless. My own son, Noah, currently lacks the motor skills to use a pencil well, yet he finds it easy and intuitive to navigate a touch tablet interface. What if we could create interfaces directly to the imagination, allowing the creation of real physical objects from thought.”
Excuse me? Did I just read “interfaces directly to the imagination”?
Well, before we begin getting too skeptical about this whole idea lets first figure out exactly what the people at ThinkerThing mean.
"Our first prototype will utilize the EmotivEPOC, a high resolution neuro signal acquisition and processing wireless neuroheadset to collect signals from the brain. Our software will allow the user to evolve 3D models with the power of thought, which will then be created in ABS plastic using a MakerBot Industries Replicator, the latest in desktop 3D printing technology."
There’s a lot to unpack in the paragraph above, but here’s what ThinkerThing means when they say, “evolve 3D models with the power of thought. ThinkerThinkg will use “emotional responses to imagery to evolve a 3D object over a number of steps by detecting the user's emotional response to design changes.” By recording a user’s emotional response to images they will create a mutating series of refinements that are instantaneously interwoven into the evolving patterns of a design.
Once a user is satisfied with a design they will be able to print their model on a 3D Printer.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I’m a sucker for this type of project. Although there are a tremendous amount of questions surrounding the feasibility and validity of this technology I still think it’s pretty fascinating…especially for a Monday.
Learn more about ThinkerThing by visiting their website. You can also hear an interview with the projects head at Pod Delusion. (The interview begins around 28:00.)