CES 2009: Mindflex = Tabletop Telekinesis

[dim0nich]

YESSSSS! I didn't know this existed, mindblowing! I wan't to try it! Obviously a creative demo of this amazing concept. In 20 years this technology will advance enough for scanners to read our brainwaves directly from our head without any headsets. Kinect hand-motion control will seem as ridiculous as channel knob on a wooden TV set.

[SoleMan117]

I think I'd be good at this...

[ryangimson14]

To be honest this is a HUGE jump ten twenty years ago people probly didnt even think of the hapening. now it is. give it, 10 or 20 more years, then you will move the fan and roatate it as well, 50 years there will be no fan

[NerfHerderD17]

damn. anyone remember screwball scramble? pretty obscure i think. it was basically this without having to use jedi mind powers. also cheaper.

[GoggleEyedOne]

looks VERY basic. potential is interesting though. feels more like an experiment for monkeys in laboratories at the moment.

[TheTubePortal]

I would absolutely LOVE to have this thing. Do they still make them? Does anyone know?

[kyleisdabest100]

$79.99 :O you can buy a fan and a ping pong ball for $20!

[vaguelyhumanoid]

@kyleisdabest100 The other 60 are for the telekinesis.

[WalrusRockGod]

I've played one of these at school. It's totally awesome!

[EmpressNatalie]

Ok, seriously? This thing looks like a shitload of awesome. I want one.

}:)

[tmsdonline]

The ear sensors detect heart rate on a similar principle to a finger or ear clipping pulse monitor in a doctors' surgery. It's highly unlikely that this unit actually contains an EEG.

[lesorciercalifornien]

Bernoulli meets biofeedback. 

[greenblue1979]

And after 40 seconds with this nonsense, little Johnny went back to playing his videogames. 

[TheZimok]

pinches mamadas a mi hermana le compraron uno pero no se levanta con la mente esa madre tiene una pinche diadema ke te ponen en la cabesa y orejas

cuando piensas tu cabesa se pòne medio caliente XD

y eso ase ke sepa la diadema mande señales al juego y funcione el avaniquillo ese

pero al final me marie bien ojete xD por ke te la tienes ke apretar fuerte pa ke se pueda

y ps te duele la cabesa despues de un rato xD

[Kurotaisa]

@TheZimok

No entendi una puta wea, aprende ortografia propia, ¡necio!

[TheZimok]

@Kurotaisa na chinga tu madre kien le dijo ke lo leyera

[Kurotaisa]

@TheZimok

¿Que? ¿Que? No entiendo!

[cowreapers5]

Wind over matter

[jq747]

"Theta wave activity"? Sounds like a load of bullcrap to me. It probably operates by the muscles on the side of your head. (Also, what's with the huge f**king captions?)

[Fr0ggeh86]

@jq747 No the technology actually works the way they say it does, there are lots of technology like this developed today, but I guess this is the first one released for "entertainment". :)

[greenpogo]

@Fr0ggeh86 nah - my friend got one for christmas - yes the ball goes up and down - is it really measuring theta waves accurately? idk, cause i decided id clip it to my fingers and touch the middle sensor with my hand. gues what... it does the exact same thing. are there theta brainwaves in my hand? eh, i dont think so. this product is crap. most mental energy it requires is taking it out of the box :P

[Neeokalias]

we're all bacteria. =) thats it. love you fucks.

[poolcaty1]

she looks like she has to take a dump

[redyapper]

this would be great if you were stuck in a hospital bed!

[danielbooom]

consciousness over matter !!..i love it.

[grashninre]

if you enjoyed this, take a look at emotiv epoc ;)

[KimKhan]

Looks cool but not as awesome as made to be. I mean, he said it himself "control the ball with the knob". What the brain does is just switch the machine on or off.

Pretty cool, but not godly awesome.

[jeffmccord]

Great review - here's a new HACK to the Mattel Mindflex (check out my video above - Moxie Mo Show) - it will SHOCK you now.

[NotDump]

PS: the towel in the video i posted is wet because it must be conductive for electricity like the human body... thats the wohle trick -.-

[Elemental135]

Several years ago I had a Harry Potter toy like this; you had to levatate the ball and move it through obstacles. It wasn't mind-controlled, though.

[gooznr1]

the sound suxxx

[zimtower]

What about people with ADD?

[mahashakty]

@zimtower maybe this toy could be used in therapy to teach them to focus better. (I hope so, because some of my students are ADD and ADHD)

[LikeWtfItsSarah]

That sounds like a good idea.

[modok1313]

then they better be carefull masterbating

[Arez64]

@zimtower Then they shouldn't be trying to do something that involves "brain power" in the first place.

[Fireflyfan329]

@zimtower You end up with a viral video.

[Ninja1Ninja2]

@zimtower The ball will fly to outerspace.

[Curttehmurt]

@zimtower Mindflex is essentially a Neurofeedback machine, and Neurofeedback is one of many treatments for ADD. I know from experience as I used to go for Neurofeedback to treat my ADD

[DistanceBlend]

I would still love to get one. I just looked at the website and the page for it is gone.

[gibbyg11]

so cool

[RuckusJr]

I tried this at Comic Con in SanDiego this summer and thought it was really cool. Theres a lot of talk of the Big 3 adding something like this to their next system to tell when you're frustrated or stressed for shooter games or sports games. I think its an awesome concept and is amazing that something this advanced is here.

[chinchillamelee]

coooool

[JustinBsucks]

Shit I was hopin it would be a little cheaper than that

[guru25122008]

.. radio transmiter wich`s sensitive on jaw/head moving..it`s not even interesting to try it, expecialy not to watch it !

[danielwerre]

I'll be impressed when you control lateral movement via mind control. I was really disappointed when I saw that you have to turn a knob to move the ball side to side.

[xboxpirates2000]

same here

[Freecell82]

@danielwerre It's essentially proof of concept. Concentrate on anything at all and the ball rises. It only reads one type of brain activity at the moment. Give it a decade or so and you should be able to control more things with an MMI. Gotta learn more about the brain and how to read different types of activity first.

[danielwerre]

@Freecell82, I'm a neurologist. Full mind control will never happen.

[Freecell82]

I can take your word that full control over something like this will never happen, but what about artificial limbs? There was already that case of monkeys moving a robotic arm.

Is that possible because we already have arms or what? Or is that something else altogether?

[danielwerre]

@Freecell82, it will never happen. Are you kidding me? Dude, do you think they just attach an arm and the individual can move it solely, "with their mind"? haha. Dude, they attach electrodes to the severed nerves in the shoulder, that previously controlled the movement in the arm. The electrodes in the robotic arm complete the circuit as an analog to the original nerves. Actually they have done this with humans (I haven't heard about the monkey). There is nothing supernatural about this process.

[danielwerre]

@Freecell82, I mistakenly said "... the nerves that previously controlled movement of the arm". The motor center of the brain controls it. The nerves simply relay the electro-chemical signal to the muscles, or in this case, the signal is converted to full electrical at the electrode, and activates servos which expand and contract.. etc.

[Freecell82]

I never said anything about supernatural stuff. Not sure why you brought that up.

I think you've answered my question though.

[danielwerre]

@Freecell82, telekinesis is a paranormal or supernatural phenomena (basically, there is no evidence to suggest it is possible or exists, there is evidence which suggests it does not exist, however). By your statement with the robotic arm, I assumed you thought the arm was controlled with the mind (by telekinesis). I'm not sure exactly what you meant by that statement now.

[Freecell82]

Ah, I see. No, I didn't mean that. Nothing paranormal. Just normal artificial limb stuff, albeit better than anything we've done so far.

Anyway, if you google 'monkey robotic arm' the entire first page is relevant including a couple videos.

[kebbrown50]

as a scientist you should be careful what you say, about things not happening

rockets, lightbulb, microchip, cars, online shopping, data transmission, A/C, going to the moon, internet, personal computers.

basically all modern technology has been mocked as impossible at one point in time. imagine being in ancient times. if you take a random person off the street to try to explain the internet to an ancient time person, both the person and ancient person wouldn't understand the scope of the net

[egdeltur666]

@Freecell82 ...or they could NOT give children telekinesis. Which is, you know, a GOOD idea.

[mrtekbunny]

@Freecell82

skynet here we come!

[xtruma]

i bet u if u give me a couple of months and the budget and resources necessary, i can build my own TK game...all u need is an EEG receptor, a basic knowledge of how brainwaves affect ur environment, and the technical knowledge to make the programs and build the hardware to the game...i love that they have come this far to prove TK is real.. but this game is so primitive.. moving that tiny ball over and over and OVERRRRRR and OOO VVV EEERRRRRRR... might as well buy the PS3 game with TK headset..

[palacioalex]

you dont control the ball. you control the fan that is making the ball float

[kev1796]

lol many scientists commenting, anyways i think its kinda cool especially when u move it through obstacles...

[martin101jc]

every good its not bad at all it helps on focus

[adhdpro59]

What a joke. I can see this sitting on a shelf collecting dust by some fool that buys it. Waste of money.

[topppppj]

This product isn't good. It reads theta waves- a type of brain wave. Brain waves can be trained. ie: if you reward yourself whenever theta waves are made -say with a ball floating- your brain develops a habit where it makes theta waves more often. The problem with this is that an abundance of theta waves is one of the main causes of ADHD.

[Kayotk5]

Actually, learning to control theta waves is a cure for ADD. One of the treatments is to do a similar game like this in a doctors office. Think about it logically. If an ADD person could control themselves and "concentrate" as he ad says long enough, are they acting ADD?

[topppppj]

@Kayotk5 The method you are talking about is neurofeedback therapy, the thing is that what may help some may harm others. Everyone needs a balance of their brain waves and for some this may throw off the balance in a negative way; the problem is that many might not know what this may actually do to there childrens' minds if their children play it a lot. The effects probably wouldn't be that drastic though.

[straydogstrut07]

wtf? An abundance of theta waves is not the cause of ADD or ADHD, but a symptom. Electro-chemical reactions and problems with receptor sites, reuptake of neurotransmitters, or overall neural circuitry causes cognitive "dysfunction", like ADD.

I've never heard of them doing these concentration exercises in a doctors office, but it they truly have someone concentrate in an effort to alleviate ADD, thats foolish. The dopamine reward system is the problem, its the motivation to pay attention.

[hikarinoryu]

So, if I get this game and play it frequently enough.... It will help with my ADD? Wow.

[FreezingHazard]

I have adhd...

[xtruma]

i think i do too...ADHD or ADD... go figure..i think im thinking too much , multi tasking alott constantly, that i cant focux on one thing...hope to try meditation to develop my chakras very soon...

[FreezingHazard]

Well for me my ADHD is constant adrenaline always and I have to be doing more than one thing at once, I picked up on Halo and go to MLG n Gamebattles n stuff so I wouldn't consider ADHD a BAD thing as it can be turned to good. Those with severe multitasking and problem solving in a blink of an eye have benefits, too.

[ajago125]

It isn't telekenesis. It's about as magical as...as... yeah, it's just not too great.

[te11ah]

Its not telekinesis at all. The headband just monitors your brainwaves- the more you concentrate, the faster the headband tells the fan to move.

[elijahjeffery]

oh it works

[w8ulostme]

I bet it gives you cancer.

[Username142536]

Does it really work?

I keep watching these videos and there are people that say no and some that say yes. Can someone tell me the truth? I really want to buy one, but I want to get my money's worth.

[Spiderbros101]

of course it can't really move without a fan, Whiplash... Maybe far into the future, but not for now. but think is it raelly a piece of crap?!!!

[Ramsez]

not telekinesis, it's a fan...

[TheBellashmella]

Yes this is not fake at all whiplash your rong and prospers right totally

[WhiplashFreak]

I Just got this piece of crap and its all fake lol I cannot believe how much hype it got and its all fake, It's controlled by a magnetic propeller fan and anyways I don't think the government would let telekinesis out like that

[prosper58]

LOL. It is not fake. The headband monitors BRAINWAVES. It is not telekinesis. If you concentrate on the ball or think alot, the fan spins faster. If try not to think, it will slow don. The knob moves it around the ring, while you control it's height. And I bet you didn't even get it.

[MissusAnonymous]

@WhiplashFreak That's because your fan isn't turning at all. Gosh, I wonder why. Even the toy knows nothing is really going on in your brain.

[babskate]

$80 bucks, r u serious!!!

[Mudgie101]

how many people can play at once?

[TypicalGam3r]

bitch is ugly

[MasterMagician97]

i was excited about it..... until i looked at the price LOL

[MercuryRis]

Just got mine, its actualy pretty cool!

[beezyboy011]

so basically u hav 2 concentrate hard enough 2 turn on the fans and direct the ball 2 where ever u want it 2 go

[BiologicallySuper]

Not exactly, Beezy. The headset detects your mental waves and your thoughts, but it doesn't know where you want the ball to go. But the more you concentrate, the more waves you put out, which makes the fans blow more. And the less you focus, the slower the fans blow.

[lolanimations]

anyone ever watch the movie "forbidden planet"? that machine the krell used to test their young and improve their intelligence... THIS IS IT!!!!! haahaaa

[osterianio]

i thought the same thing, lol

[Flipinuts]

SO COOL!!!

[kevintheislander]

hey look omg! fans >:D its a lie man!

it just randomly gose up and down with fans

[dylanfleck]

hmm looks so awesome but it looks like you can get borde with it pretty fast 80$ is a lot of money i think ill wait till it gets down to 40$

[kristiankroflin]

I´d like to see my brain controlling my desktop and devices - even over large distances (including corrective borders!).

[birdEful]

not worth the money

[holla06]

this is lame

[bigfanowarriors]

id rather wait 1 year for it to get to 40$ :P

[Orowam]

i heard 79 99... is that really how much this is gonna caust?! that's a pretty cool concept, but for eighty dollars i don't think it's hardly worth it.

[naomimatthew]

it is 80 dollars but it is totally worth it u should buy it

[toyotashovler]

i have seen people play space invaders with like an eeg machine or w/e so ya definely could improve and so could the price.

[MegaPivotAnimations]

I got it, very very VERY disappointed. The fan just makes it go up and down, randomly. I had it on, and I was relaxing. Laying down on my bed. And I just saw it FROOOM, into the cup. Crap, man. $80 down the drain! Grrr!

[CillaDB]

So basically your controlling the fan with your mind and not the ball?.

[17aKaT]

Yeah, a tad bit too rudimentary to create a game from.....I mean theres technology so that a monkey can control a robotic arm with his mind through the different sounds and vibrations the brain gives off. try again Mattel...

[shane11226]

das nice

[HanTVStudios]

this actually looks cool

[CarmenMaribel]

that lady has no brain powers. she sucks. the ball is all wobbly all over the place.

[sevntl]

80 bucks to move a sponge ball, wow the future is expensive.

[DinoDude65]

move a sponge ball, WITH YOUR BRAIN. It's pretty reasonable.

[UTubeAndPizza]

Actually, the science is quite old, this is just a different way of using EEG signals.

The game looks a bit ridiculous, but it's an interesting use of science.

This could have been invented decades ago after the invention of the resistor and semiconductor if someone thought of it.

[nullrox]

Woah i didn't expect something like that to be invented so early...seems the future of technology is brigh.

[ethannewton]

based purely on speculation, if you are only sending out (and it is picking up on) brainwaves then it really isn't doing much. you are controlling the left and right movement with a knob and trying to focus your thought patterns. when you can move objects in x,y, &z then i will possibly give a shart.

[ethannewton]

plus i smoke a lot of pot so the ball would never leave the base unit.

[KasplazmTV]

More like the ball would never be there.

[AnglosEvanDaratar]

sounds like ur a loser

[Gazor50000]

It would be funny if u concentrated so hard that the ball flew up and hit you in the face..or u shit yourself by accident XD

[danielwerre]

Lots of hypothetical situations have comedic value... but, that would never happen. Dumb.

[darthvaderyoda]

AHH!!!!! MIND CONTROL!

[uthlak]

Ok, i got mine yesterday (woot) and i tried it straight away :)

now lets see here...ive seen several complaints about how it works on your hand. This is true, it works perfectly fine if connected to my hand, just as well as it does connected to my head. It does not, however, work if not connected to anything, or if you just hold it. I think that because your nervouse system goes through out your whole body, that the brain signals go through out your whole body as well. makes sense to me...

[soulonfire6666666666]

isaw a video saying its fake you should see it before u buy it really

[dannyboy1231223]

that looks so cool i want one soooooooooooooooo bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[jonbori87]

that lady looks bored!

[jdmilkbrand1]

look it up, do some research. all it does is adjust the height of the ball. the fan position in the circle is controlled by the knob. EEG technology "reads" the intensity of brainwaves to control the height of the ball. If you can't do it with your head, then you are retarded - a.k.a. NOT Mattel's fault. If it works when it's between your fingers, then you are an alien - a.k.a. NOT Mattel's fault either. get a grip, take it back to Wal-Mart and get your $80 back so you can buy tin-foil hats. :)

[TheBeautyfulBeast]

why do the guy only show one hand?..suck on that XD

[freefrederikfree]

i bet : tht guy is pressing a button lol

[houdinifan27]

cool

[SuperSaiyanGoku1]

mindflex more like mindfuck!!

[NeverevenStudios]

Made by Mattel? Is that lead paint I smell?

[ourownvoyage]

This is either falsely advertised, which I suspect, or I have a faulty unit. I just received this today and after struggling with try to get this to correlate with my concentration, i decided to, as one amazon reviewer did, connect the headset to my hand. I pinched the forehead sensor between my thumb and forefinger and clipped the ear sensors to two of my fingers. What do you know? Same exact fan behavior as when connected to my head. Do I have a brain in my hand somewhere? Shame on Mattel

[NeverevenStudios]

Heard quite a few people saying it's just two ends of an electric circuit, which turns on when they touch your skin. The fan gets activated by the complete circuit, then speeds up and slows down occasionally.

[bwillwall]

totally not true. it goes up when your brain waves stay similar (and also are up to a certain level)

[roach1229]

SCIENCE!

[SymbioteSpideyman]

Wait, so you just think of the fan spinning... and it spins? Bullshit.

[assassin437]

Not exactly. You concentrate, on anything, generically, and the brainwaves generated trigger the device. In can't read the specific content of your thoughts saying "make the ball spin".

[xxSyphenxx]

...

[sindex]

Why do I get the feeling the fan just randomly does whatever and these people are just tools with a lame headband?

Still.. it's a start to something. Maybe.

[lesorciercalifornien]

Bernoulli meets biofeedback. It's like Prue Halliwell and Deepak Chopra had a love child!

[ezekial1000]

i want it!!!!

im 16....O_o

[EyeSoRock]

Hmm, i think it'd be more impressive if it were operated with just the head band and some sort of sensor that kicks on inside the ball or something. The fact that the fan is what makes it go and that you can only make it work inside a little ring is pretty boxy. But they get an "A" for effort! =]

[AP3Brain]

That wouldn't really make sense. How would the ball just magically fly without the fan? Now what would be better is if they did it with a helicopter and were able to control the power of the propeller blades.

Btw my bs detector is going off.

[betawicupu]

thats a start..

[eevillee]

Why would you even want one of these, whether it's real or bogus?

[Paradox3121]

I could easily see this used to improve a child's concentration.

Also, MIND REMOTE, ect.

[william1014yt]

I just picked one of these up...from the ads I thought it was the greatest thing since the internet...but I'm really trying, and it seems like the fan sort of randomly powers up/down regardless of your concentration, or relaxation. I'm giving it another try, but I'm leaning towards returning it. So far I'm VERY disappointed.

[armedninja60]

imma use telekenesis is strip girls down!

[Savvy1400]

Luke I am your father, use the power of the Dark Side Muahhhhahaha !!

You can do it, you can do anything !!

[1fast72nova]

funny, this IS the dark side.. a TRUE Jedi would never succumb!!

[juggaloteardrop]

OMFG THE FUTURE IS HERE!

[SSGdylan]

wtf??? lol

[snosamie6]

I am not as impressed as I thought I was going to be. Why can't you use your brain to move it forward or backwards?

[lanzhihao]

Damn...it seems that human being's mind has been converted to mechanical power to do manual labour, will that in the future that our holy spirit will just downshift to something like electric power as the one in the movie, sleep dealer...

[WoTFreak13]

Holy. Crap.

Real-life telekenisis??? It's like Cerebrus from the X-men, but fro the rest of us!!!

[GRBryann]

then . we evolve some more in 2012 , supposedly we are supposed to evolve in 2012 , or the world ends , or nothing happens . im going for the evolution , we are supposed get smarter , and our brain evolves ten fold , so there is a possibility of telekenesis (:

[DraconisWyrm]

DO WANT.

[iuli1993]

thats really shit....thats pure shit!...lol....if its electronicaly controled then its shit! may have a remote control...and when the people concentrate someone pushes a button...or when an amount of time passes...the ball rises...

[zingykid71097]

Well what if your playing by yourself!!!

[stimsWonderland]

this is a toy version of the real thing, the real thing actually levitates extremely heavy objects like big sheets of metal into an assembly bay for construction purposes, it uses air to bring about levitation via multiple jet fans and there are simply too many to control with normal control methods

[dimebucker2]

i wonder if you could control a midi keyboard.... or even a therimin... That would be amazing

[EpicFailGirl]

That's a good idea, I'd love to hear the combination of brain waves and music.

[gabilou]

Yeah... and then...? Sooo What!!!

[Alain042000]

encore une autre connerie

[AceTheBathound]

I have a feeling this will bring on the same effect as when Michael Ironside died at the end of Scanners....

[SombreAngel]

Would like to add I just found out this thing will retail for $80 US.

80 bucks! And the damn kids gonna play with it for 10 minutes then want something else.

[SombreAngel]

Does anyone remeber the Harry Potter Levitating Challenge Game Board? This totally reminds me of a more expensive rip off of that. Seriously how many times can you actually play with this before it gets boring?

[SoftwareStudios]

I remember that game! My dad used to quote it: "Keep steady!" "Focus"...

[qloey]

IBVA (International Interactive Brainwave Feedback) makes a MIDI controller.

That means, you can hook it up to your computer - and anything you can make your computer do, you can control with your brainwaves! Now THAT's something...

Screw that dopey fan and pingpong ball of $80. Totally useless.

[M4771]

Which costs around 1200 USD and currently only for macs. :P

[qloey]

Well, yes. I didn't say it would be cheap! And Mac only, well, Mac dweebs are mac dweebs, it's too bad for them, really.

Still, the MIDI implications are fascinating to contemplate. Now where's my autonomous robot?

[DFaz3]

Yea, but how much does that cost?

[DFaz3]

Nvm, youtube put those other comments below yours

[Shrasta50]

80 dollars american

[adalonn]

Mindflex?! More like MindFUCK!