I Thought You Might Like A CAD Application Like This

Eddy Kuo is one of our Autodesk Labs developers. Eddy has worked a great deal on multi-touch. Eddy worked with Hans Kellner to integrate the multi-touch capabilities into our demo version of Autodesk Design Review. Many of you have gotten your hands on this version at the past two Autodesk Universities. If I had to put my finger on it, I'd say that based on his research and development, Eddy is interested in human-computer interaction in general - not just multi-touch. So it was no surprise to me last week when Eddy shared some of his thoughts on brain-based interaction with computers.

Stepping into Future of Human Computer Interface NOW with Brain Computing

• Imagine using brain computing technology to control a design application.
• You could convert visual feedback quickly and make adjustments, e.g., The wall is too thick, make it thinner.
• The application would materialize abstract concepts from the brain.
• This would perhaps even bring out the unconscious? Secretly I do want the walls to be lime green.
• It would provide immersion beyond the visual feedback. Sight and sound are easy. What about touch and smell? 
• A brain-based approach would provide the most intuitive interface yet (when it is working). Oops I just sneezed. The application interpreted that as an AutoCAD wipe-out. Sigh. I guess I'll just have to "undo" by thinking "undo."

To see that this is not total science fiction, there are two companies selling brain–computing hardware, for more info please visit:

• http://www.neurosky.com/  
• http://emotiv.com/  

And games that are currently using this technology:

• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3485918.stm  
• http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20546  
• http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2009/04/27/daily22.html  

Thanks Eddy. Technologies like this would really put the "aid" in computer aided design. Thinking about our friend, the brain, is alive in the lab.