Brainwave-tracking start-up BrainCo in controversy over tests on Chinese schoolchildren
- Start-up has raised concerns on social media controversy about China’s increased use of surveillance technologies
The concept of telekinesis, which is the ability to move objects at a distance through the sheer power of the mind, can be a feat to behold.
Start-up BrainCo has removed that capability from the realm of science fiction into practical applications, some of which it has presented in trade exhibitions.
At the annual CES trade show in Las Vegas in January, a number of visitors to BrainCo’s booth were given the opportunity to demonstrate their brain power. They were asked to wear the company’s headband, focus on the toy car in a miniature racetrack and, as if by magic, see it zoom away and make the rounds of that track.
BrainCo, which was incubated at Harvard University and founded by Chinese engineer Han Bicheng, has been attracting plenty of buzz for its brain-machine interface (BMI) products since the firm first took part in CES in 2017. The company’s Focus headband, which features what it describes as “real-time brainwave feedback and visualisation”, is targeted at the education, fitness and wellness sectors.
In China, however, BrainCo has been caught in a social media controversy amid concerns over the wide use of technologies, such as facial recognition and big data, could trigger the creation of a surveillance society.