Drums, mind power and tapping: unusual ways to control technique

Control your phone by tapping

Network sources report that Android 12 will feature

support for executing various commands by tapping on the back of the device. Android 12 should launch this year.

According to reports, support for tap control in Android 11 was developed under the code name Columbus.

The user was supposed to have enoughlightly tap twice on the back of the device to perform an action. By default, this action activated the Google Assistant voice assistant, but if necessary, you can set some other command, for example, start the camera, stop the alarm, play and stop the video, mute the sound, etc.

For some reason, by the time Android 11 launchedthe developers decided to stop using the Columbus tool. Now it has become known that a similar feature of this function will be available to owners of devices running Android 12.

The source says that usingtapping on the body of the device can activate Google Assistant, take screenshots, stop and resume playback of media content, open the notification panel, open a list of recently used applications. If necessary, this function can be disabled in the device settings.

Play GTA or Mario with your voice

In order to try this unusual way of playing, you need to install a program that accepts voice commands and interprets them as button presses.

The popular streamer tried voice acting and even went through several levels of Mario Bros, defeated a boss in Super Smash Bros, laid out a couple of decks in Hearthstone, and rode the streets of GTA 5.

The problem is that the voice commands were too straightforward, and each small action had to be assigned a unique sound (in the case of the streamer, a word).

But when, after several hours of trial, error and training, the hero of the game reached the finish line, the feeling of euphoria was unforgettable (including for the audience).

To try voice control,You need a good microphone that will pick up all sounds clearly. And programs can be found on the Internet, for example, VoiceMacro - its setup takes less than a minute.

Dark Souls on drums

It turns out that the game can be played on reels, but not on regular ones, but on gaming ones, the signal from which is read by a computer. For example, for Guitar Hero. 

Drums, it is important to note, are different.For example, streamer A Twerking Yoshi used bongos. True, in a non-standard way. He did not clap his palms or make any sounds, but only pressed the sensitive parts of the drums with his fingers, deftly dodging enemy blows and delivering his own.

Visual control for people with limited mobility

Visual control, or eye tracker, is one ofthe most famous inventions for people with severe amyotrophic sclerosis, thanks largely to the famous English theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking.

The innovative system is a tabletwith a video camera, allowing you to control your computer with your eyes. The practical benefits of this invention are really extensive, since this technology can be used in almost any area of ​​our life where video equipment is used.

Despite the fact that the equipment ishigh-tech, its control is intuitive and does not cause any difficulties for the users themselves, nor for their families and specialists working with them.

Many household appliances such asTVs, air conditioners, and even doors can be controlled using infrared radiation. People with disabilities, such as those with a spinal cord injury, can use a gaze computer like a remote control and operate devices with their gaze.

People who cannot speak as welluse fingers, hands and other body parts to use the keyboard, mouse or touch screen, can use eye tracking to write messages using only the eyes, and then use the computer to speak those messages.

How the eye tracker is used:

  • illuminators in the eye-tracker create reflections on the cornea;
  • the eye-tracker camera captures these reflections and takes pictures;
  • the resulting 3D model of the eyes allows you to determine the position of the gaze.

Thought control

Scientists are developing a way to control gadgetsby the power of thought. A few days ago, a technology was presented that recognizes neural signals not through direct contact with the gray matter, but through the blood vessels.

Previously, it was assumed that connecting "external control" in the brain is possible only with the help of invasive implants. But it is obvious that such manipulations are dangerous and can easily damage brain tissue.

Synchrone has come up with a new approach. In their scheme, neurocomputer communication is carried out through the jugular vein. The technology does not require surgery or implantation directly into the human brain.

Scientists have found a way to get by with little blood - as inliterally and figuratively. The implant placed in the bloodstream reads and recognizes the signals from the brain. These, in turn, are transmitted to a computer via an infrared transmitter surgically inserted into the participants' chest.

Volunteers managed to master the control of the implantnot right away. Patients returned home and learned new skills for several weeks. The electrodes picked up the signals, but the machine learning algorithm responsible for the interpretation initially could not interpret them correctly.

A few weeks later they learneduse the eye-tracker, move the cursor and select the desired object on the screen with the mouse by clicking. The signal received by the implant does not contain information as such. It's just 1 bit of data: click or not. Patients can now shop online on their own and improve their overall quality of life.

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