Who even needs a mouse these days? According to Brink Bionics and the Impulse Neuro-Controller, no one.
Brink Bionics are a team of engineers who specialise in neural interfaces and bionic limbs from the University of Waterloo. They’re behind the Impulse Neuro-Controller, which looks like a compact version of the Nintendo Power Glove but works in a wildly different way.
The INC is a brand new peripheral that, in short, reads the electronic pulses sent through your nervous system and registers them in-game. This is opposed to the traditional method of, ya know, clicking.
In the words of Brink Bionics:
“Impulse has built-in sensors that use a proprietary machine-learning algorithm to read your muscles’ biosignals and predict your clicking intentions.”
The difference between a ‘real’ click and this machine reading your nervous system like a book has been calculated to be roughly 80 milliseconds. With gamers desperate for any advantage, this could be a new essential breaking into the market.
Now, the project is still in a firm beta, so we’ll have to wait and see if it delivers on the promise. But with more than $50,000 raised on the Indiegogo so far (smashing their $15,000 target) it’s looking like 2021 may just be the year of the glove.
Having seen a solid share of incredible tech that’s never materialised, I’ve got a good feeling about the Impulse Neuro-Controller. What gives me the greatest confidence is the minor jankiness of their marketing material – there’s an ever so slightly awkward air to the videos and assets that makes me 100% believe they are excellent engineers.
I genuinely can’t wait to see how they work, we’ll happily take one for testing!
