New headset reads minds and uses AR, AI and machine learning to help people with locked-in-syndrome communicate with loved ones again

If you’re in need of a good tech news story today, Cognixion may just have you covered as it announced the commencement of clinical trials for its Axon-R headset. According to IEEE.org this brain computer interface (BCI) is looking promising for giving paralyzed patients the ability to communicate once more.

Cognixion’s Axon-R headset is a device designed to read brain activity using EEG as a direct input for controls. Using brain responses as inputs, the tech is looking to give back communication to people who are left unable to move due to things like Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It’s one of many new BCIs that are hoping to improve people’s lives.

We’ve seen some other big name BCI examples in the news recently, such as Elon Musk’s Neuralink, which has been used to even let people to play games with the device. Or Synchron Switch, which allowed users to send messages after insertion into the brain via blood vessels. The big difference between something like Musk’s offering and the Axon-R headset is that Neurolink requires a microchip inserted into the brain, whereas Gognixion’s solution is far less invasive.

The Axon-R measures responses in the occipital lobe through the skull, so there’s no brain surgery required to use the device. This puts the device more in line with other efforts going for non-invasive options, like Precision Neuroscience, a company headed by one of Musk’s Neuralink former cofounders.

Cognixions device measures the brain’s response multiple times per second, and can detect between different choices a user makes. With the help of machine learning, the Axon-R can give the wearer a few options that make sense in a given situation. It can even present these options in augmented reality, in a sort of floating UI. It will then read the user’s choice, and offer further elaboration or refinement so that a proper response can be formed.

This is tailored to each user, and trained on their typical conversational behaviours using a system similar to autocorrect, though hopefully a bit ducking better. Cognixions has developed a conversational style AI designed to help each individual using the Axon-R communicate as effectively as possible. Hopefully also preserving many quirks in their personality along the way.

Using brain response rather than eye tracking means the tech is available to those who can’t even move their eyes. Rather than needing to look at an option, all it requires is the users attention. This is huge for patients with conditions like Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis who may develop “locked-in-syndrome” which can paralyze even their eye motions, especially towards the end of their lives.

This kind of technology has the potential to greatly improve the lives of all sorts of people. It’s important to remember, being able bodied is temporary for us all. There are countless ways for someone to lose the ability to communicate, and it can be easy to take it for granted.

Giving people the ability to ask for help, make their own choices, and even talk to loved ones is exactly what I want to see machine learning, AI, and augmented reality doing. For me, it’s right up there with devouring tonnes of plastic.

This is just the start of trials for the Axon-R, so it’s early days yet. Once we’ve got BCIs nailed down for people who need it I can’t wait to see it come to games and consumer tech. That’s if we can figure out what to do with them, first.