Aug 21, 2017 | By Benedict
HUMM, a startup based in Perth, Australia, is developing a 3D printed headset that boosts brain performance by delivering electric shocks to wearers. The device uses four electrodes to measure brain waves, and stimulates the brain to improve short-term memory and mistake evasion.
Do you ever wish that someone or something could make you just a little bit sharper? Not all of us are blessed with high levels of concentration, alertness, and quick-thinking, and many of us would happily shell out for a product that improved our performance in these areas.
HUMM, a VC-backed startup based in Perth, is developing what could be the perfect solution to our problems. The only issue? It’s literally shocking!
The Australian tech company has used 3D printing and other technologies to develop a headset that gives electric shocks to improve brain performance. HUMM says the device could potentially improve a wearer’s short-term memory and also help them avoid mistakes.
The prototype headset uses four electrodes which measure brain waves, while the device also stimulates the brain with electric shocks to keep wearers sharp.
And the key market for such a product? Gamers.
Tim Fiori, a neuroscientist at HUMM, says gamers are the perfect customer for the device, since they often wear headsets already. Gamers also use similar mental processes to pilots and long-haul drivers, who have trialled similar brain-shocking technology in the past to maintain alertness on long journeys.
“We see what we are building to be applicable for really everybody in terms of learning, education, even alertness,” Fiori says.
3D printing is being used to build a new prototype headset roughly every two weeks, each designed by Chris Norman, who was recently working with NASA on a number of additive manufacturing projects.
If HUMM manages to perfect its 3D printed device, the benefits could be massive not only for gamers, but for vehicle operators too.
“Say you are driving a car or a motorbike and you are about to lose attention [and] swerve onto the wrong side,” says co-founder Iain McIntyre, “this device would be able to predict in advance the mental state that would come around before that happened.”
(Images: ABC News / Elicia Kennedy)
Of course, HUMM is aware that the public may be wary about electrocuting itself. But the startup says the idea is hardly extreme, with Facebook and Elon Musk’s Neuralink exploring similar technologies.
Best of all, HUMM doesn’t want to target its product at an elite market, instead making its brain zapper ”a democratized technology where everyone has access.”
Sure, it’s still hard to imagine voluntarily shocking yourself, but HUMM’s headset could be the future of gaming, transport, and who knows what else. Plug me in.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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