Biocontrol Corp. Looks to Break Into Computer Peripheral Market

by James Cavuoto, editor
BioControl Systems, Inc., the South San Francisco neurotechnology firm that developed the BioMuse neural interface system, has set its sights on the mass market for computer input products. Although the company has sold more than 100 of its $20,000 BioMuse systems to corporate, government, and private research institutions, company founders Benjamin Knapp and Hugh Lusted have decided to abandon this high-end market in favor of lower-cost, higher-volume products.

Hands-Free Controller
With the help of Moto Development Group, a San Francisco technology design and product development firm, BioControl has recently produced a prototype of a consumer neural interface product that the company says could sell for under $200. The slick-looking HFC (hands-free controller) consists of a strap-mounted sensor that contains a single electromyographic surface electrode and an accelerometer. Up to four such wristwatch-like sensors can be connected to a belt-worn controller that communicates via radio-frequency signals to a computer within proximity of the controller. Knapp said he expects that future versions of the product will eliminate the belt-worn controller, embedding a miniature RF transmitter in each sensor.

Each sensor samples acceleration and EMG signals 4,000 times per second, with an 8-bit depth for EMG and 12-bit signal from the accelerometer. Knapp, the company's technology director, says that the HFC's use of both external (accelerometer) and internal (EMG) signals offers computer users and software developers an unprecedented level of man-machine interaction. According to Knapp, if positioned properly on the arm, a single EMG sensor can discriminate among the five fingers with 80 percent accuracy. This information, combined with the accelerometer's feedback on arm motion, could enable a game developer, for example, to produce a much-more realistic interface than current computer mice, joysticks, and other input devices offer.

HFC neural interface prototype from BioControl Corp. is targeted at mass-market computer input device industry.

BioControl has developed patented signal-processing technology, built into the controller, that transforms the analog input signals into meaningful and linearized digital data. A brief training session would enable each user to calibrate the system with his/her physical attributes and the location of the sensor. Besides the arm/wrist sensors, BioControl has developed a head-mounted sensor that converts head movements and forehead muscle contractions into meaningful computer data.

Knapp said that the firm has had discussions with computer peripheral manufacturers such as Kensington as well as software giant Microsoft. The company is looking for an OEM partnership or venture capital deal that would enable them to produce the HFC in quantity, which he estimates would be at least 1,000 units per month initially.

BioControl Background
Knapp and Lusted founded BioControl in 1989, after working together on a number of neurotechnology projects, including the cochlear prosthesis. Lusted earned a Ph.D in neurophysiology from the Stanford medical school; Knapp received his Ph.D in electrical engineering from Stanford. They developed BioMuse in 1992 as an eight-channel biocontroller capable of reading EEG, EMG, EOG, and EKG data. Among the users of this system were NASA, British Telecom, the U.S. Air Force, and Honeywell.

The pair elected to remove the EEG, EOG, and EKG options from the consumer-oriented HFC prototype because of the inherent noise, complexity, and difficulty of working with those signals. At the same time, the accelerometer sensor offered a key component for gaming and virtual reality applications. Lusted is working with a company called SGS Interactive that has developed an on-line virtual arm-wrestling game in which two remote players equipped with an arm sensor attempt to "pin" their opponent's on-screen arm.

Future Outlook
Looking down the road, Knapp sees magnetoencephalographic recording as a viable interface technology for "thought-controlled" computers. Although current MEG technology requires relatively large sensors and massive power, future developments in technologies such as SQUID (superconducting quantum interference device) will help make this more practical. Unlike EEG signals, magnetic sensing is more able to penetrate skin, bone, and other tissue, enabling the sensors to be removed from the human body. Magnetic signals emitted by neurons in the brain would also be less susceptible to attenuation caused by the varying orientations of neural cells in the cerebral cortex, a current problem faced by EEG technologists.

While other vendors are working on brain- or neural-computer interface products, BioControl seems to have an advantage because of its engineering expertise and its flair for industrial design and consumer marketing garnered from its relationship with Moto.