The Mindtooth project, funded by EU commission, is well advanced in the system development phase. Next December a prototype including headset and software for use in real operational environments will be ready for demonstration.
The challenge of Mindtooth is to promote the use of “out-of-the-lab” neuroscience in operational sectors, by giving easy access to a wide range of indicators related to brain processes such as mental workload, stress, and vigilance. The system prototype is well on its way to reaching its challenging objectives considering that: excellent results have been obtained in validation tasks, high reliability in signal recording and data processing has been verified, and the comfort of the elegant headset has been confirmed. Moreover a smooth UX software interface is now under development.
The Mindtooth system aims to integrate cerebral information from airplane pilots, drivers and industrial operators in reporting mode as well as being open to integration with the surrounding technological environment: an automotive simulator, or an aircraft’s cockpit, or systems in a control room, respectively.
This new affordable and wearable device, capable of measuring psychological states, has a potentially much broader range of future applications. Once its features are fully demonstrated, the Mindtooth system will become an attractive and useful tool in many other fields beyond those tested in the ongoing project. Indeed, accounting for instant internal human reactions could help enhance human activities or automation efficiency across a wide range of applications:
- The Human Machine Interaction (HMI) domain represents a vast field where systems could be designed to take into account the user’s real-time perception, and truly become “cognitively-aware”, capable of sensing users’ psychophysiological state and making informed decisions according to their immediate needs and intentions.
- In addition Marketing Behavioural analysis and Management neuroscience could potentially benefit from using the system.
- Last, but not least, wellness monitoring and “out- of- lab” patient monitoring with adequate validation could be another important field of application.
