OCZ prepares Neural Impulse Actuator for shipping next week

"OCZ's Neural Impulse Actuator could be shipping as soon as next week! Pictures and price information inside."

Published: 4th March 2008 | Source: OCZ | Author: James Napier

OCZ's prepares NIA for shipping next week

Back in January we brought you news of a new device showcased by OCZ over at the Computer Electronics Show. Codenamed the Neural Impulse Actuator (or nia for short), OCZ captivated audiences by seemingly being able to use brain power to control the motion of a character in the the popular FPS Unreal Tournament.

While details of how it worked at the time were quite sketchy with many people taking guesses at whether it was actually controlled by brainwaves or facial expressions/muscle movements, today (after seeing the device in action on a one-on-one basis) we've got some further information on the unit along with some pictures of what you can expect from the retail version once it starts shipping.

How does it work?

Obviously the biggest question that has been on everyone's minds (excuse the pun) is how does it work? While it has to be said that a lot of the information fed to us by Dr. Michael Schuette (Neurobioligist & OCZ VP of Technology) went well over our heads (here we go again - Ed), we managed to extract from the conversation that the nia works by reading bioptentials. These include activities of the brain, the autonomous nervous system and muscles - all of which are captured using embrace sensors located on the nia's headband, amplified and sent to the PC via USB2.0.

The biopotentials are broken into frequency specific components that allow a reasonably fine granularity of control for the novice user, after a short period of adaptation, the controls become essentially a streaming of body signals into the computer that don't really require any further "thinking" but become sort of second nature.

Until recently this analysis required a great deal of processing power, meaning that in a uni-processor environment the game running on a users PC would often be competing for CPU resources against the nia application. However, thanks to the popularity of multi-core processors, the software is now able to offload a lot of the "decoding" to other cores in the processor improving the performance of the multi-threaded application.

Any better than a mouse/keyboard?

While the nia is clearly a breakthrough in technology, it's certainly not going to make anybody a professional gamer over night. In much the same way as it takes several years to learn how to touch-type without looking at the keyboard, the nia will similarly require significant 'brain training' before a user can competently navigate around a map in a game.

However, the nia does have a big advantage over the traditional mouse with OCZ claiming that reaction times can be cut by anything up to 60%. This reduction is mainly thanks to the nia cutting out a large portion of the time that the body takes to relay information from the eye down through the body into muscles in our fingers. While many professional gamers spend many hours every day for several years training these reflexes, any person using the nia should be able to harness the full potential of their reflexes within a matter of hours.

So when is it out?

Sources at OCZ have told us that the nia will be going into production as soon as next week. This falls in line with the start CeBIT, where the device will be showcased on OCZ's booth (Hall 21 B 29). People wanting to get a slice of the action as soon as it arrives with retailers can expect to pay around $300USD (~£150) - a bargain considering the R&D that has gone into the device. Also included in the package will be detailed instructions and presentations on how to make the most of the nia. So rest assured you won't be left scratching your head!

We've seen the nia in action and it's very surreal, but at the same time it works. Could this device revolutionise the way we think about "input devices"? Do you think you'll be buying one? Why not air your views in our forum.

Most Recent Comments

31-07-2008, 12:51:07

Jaster

Hazah, we get a further 20 in tomorrow, not sure i'm allowed to tell you, but I will anyway :D

04-08-2008, 10:04:51

Jaster

After having a quick word this morning with our product manager he told me there are 6 NIA's left from the current delivery after we completed all backorders over the weekend. Anyone who ordered from us expect it to be with you in the following days. Apparently theres gonna be another break before the next batch but its not as bad as last time, or so I'm being lead to believe, but as most of you know theres a big difference between what we've been told and what actually transpires, anyway if you want one get your orders in quick cos I cant see them lasting the day....

05-08-2008, 11:21:17

SuperRoach

It seems a few places are getting it in now, which is a good thing. Going to be a bit more activity soon I think. Wheres the reviews on this site??

05-08-2008, 20:04:45

quoc

It's available on Newegg just so you guys know

06-08-2008, 08:37:55

SuperRoach

Got one :)
Well lookies what I have.....
http://www.imagebam.com/image/ca68ed10670329

going to install it and try it out now.

06-08-2008, 14:08:37

Tonsko

Mine was dispatched today from play. Hopefully will arrive tomorrow, as I'm away on friday for the weekend. Game on!

07-08-2008, 10:42:59

Lynx

Anyone who doesnt want this is retarded and should be shot.

07-08-2008, 10:45:04

Lynx

http://www.overclock.co.uk/product/OCZ-NIA-Neural-Impulse-Actuator_2677.html

*ORDER*

14-08-2008, 15:20:29

SuperRoach

Well, I'm up to day 7 Now! here is a video showing how im going with learning and using it in cod4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPfYDCNoy1c

07-04-2009, 04:49:44

lb00083

*Hey, first post, I come form OCN, so OC3D seems to share a similar interest... and then the NIA too...*

I just did a little research.

1) on the ocz site, there is no mention of the NIA under perhipherals in the hyperlinks in the left column

2) the top bar (flash animated) I took products >> perhipherals > OCZ NIA

3) after reading the flash page-over marketing, I noticed a picture which was hyperlinked with some JS but had no anchor, so I zoomed in and saw "powered by brainfingers technology"

4) I googled that phrase

5) stumbled upon the BAT website, turns out the the "NIA" OCZ had at CES 2007 was actually a cyberlink brainfinger model with OCZ stitched in to it.

6) Looked around a bit, found out that the software is the same for both.

7) THE CYBERLINK SDK = NIA SDK

8) also found out a good deal about the device.

so....

It looks like the NIA is a cyberlink but the sensors are not as high quality (cheaper) and therefore have fewer discernable levels of input (cheaper) (cyberlink is very detailed, the ocz nia has only 7 levels of intensity it can read).

The good news is: I found the SDK, now someone go download it before OCZ has it taken off the internetz.

Also: The compant is brain actuated technologies. OCZ seems to have intentionally namedthe device the NI ACTUATOR as to throw all searches on google that include "brain" and "actuate" and "Technology" point to news articles abotu "OCZ's brain mouse"

pretty slick.

This is some great information, I am just wondering, has anyone actually successfully used the Brainfingers SDK with the OCZ NIA? I am just deciding whether to purchase it or not. Any information would be greatly appreciated :-)