Brain computer interface (BCI) company Synchron this week announced a trial integrating its BCI technology with Amazon Alexa. Mark, a 64-year-old man who has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), recently became the first to control his smart home devices via Alexa with just his thoughts.
Mark was able to use Synchron’s BCI technology to access the Tap to Alexa feature on his Amazon Fire tablet, from which he could activate customized tiles that perform pre-saved actions like turning the lights on and off, playing music, reading a book on Kindle and more. And he did it without even having to say a word or press a button.
“It’s hard to imagine living in our modern world without the ability to access or control connected devices like Amazon’s Alexa and Echo products that are so prevalent in my daily life,” said Mark. “To be able to manage important aspects of my environment and control access to entertainment gives me back the independence that I’m losing.”
