Brainwave Assisted Binoculars

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)  awarded more than $10 million to defense contractors working on intelligent binoculars (not pictured) that utilize the users brainwaves to filter relevant visual information. While details of the project are obviously hazy, the developing technology hopes to capitalize on the unparalleled ability of the human brain to differentiate between battlefield objects and movement.

A soldier’s ability to spot a threat will help train the binoculars to recognize pertinent information and bring it to the attention of the user.  The high resolution wide-angle binoculars will feature electrodes inside the helmet to monitor brainwaves and through ongoing use, will improve the results displayed.  The Associated Press has more,

Dr. Robert Shin, assistant professor of neurology and ophthalmology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, said the brain is constantly processing images but most get filtered out.

“There is a level where the brain can identify things before it ever makes it to the conscious level,” Shin said. “Your brain says, ‘It may be something.’ But it might not realize that it is something that should rise to the conscious level.”

Image credit: Getty Images,  Altus Plunkett/Flickr

[via Next Nature]