The road to human machine unity has got to start somewhere, and while nobody will be able to really pinpoint the actual start of mind-reading devices – as there have been a bunch of under-marketed and under-performing devices over the past 10 years – part of the humble beginnings of technohumanism will take place on a golf course.

A golf course in Asia, and that comes as no surprise to anyone. NeuroSky’s BrainAthlete system is an evolution of its other mind-reading headsets which measure midichlorian count and manage to translate that into control of a few apps. BrainAthlete is more focused – gone is the promise of mind control, instead we’re left with a device that measures and analyzes brainwaves, letting a trainer sweat over the data and find out where their athlete’s psychological strengths and weaknesses lie, mapped out perfectly against the unfolding sequences of their game.

Sales started earlier this month in Japan, with a cost of $483. Availability in the US is promised for the first quarter of 2011.

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The Emotiv Epoc headset was largely developed for the gaming world.  But one man, some where in a remote location in his dank basement outfitted the headset with an Adriuno board and laptop to let him control physical objects.  Before you get too excited we’re talking about turning the television on and off with a simple “push” function or thought.  Pretty cool stuff.  Now we just need an iPhone app and the 4th gen iPhone to include a brain wave scanner.

Vid after the ‘leap’

[via Make]

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Update: Mattel has announced the Radica Mindflex Dual game

The Mindflex from Mattel is one of those toys every adult wants to try. The included headset reads your brain waves and based on your cognitive power it either increases or decreases the built-in fan’s output. The goal of the game? Place the ball through the hoops. The knob on the front of the device controls the location of the fan. Hit the videos for a complete walk through and some solid ‘day 4 CES’ laughs (we had drank a bottle of Jack the night before and just finished an all you can eat buffet).

The days of mind control are upon us, albeit in games.  Mattel’s latest, the Mind Flex game, tests a user’s concentration by challenging them to place a ball through a number of hoops.  Sounds simple, right?  Actually, there is no game pads, just a brain scanning device.  The user wears the device, and through thought alone has to power a fan that will float the ball through the game’s obstacles.

We’ll try to make our way over to Mattel’s CES booth to get a hands on, but you can expect the product to launch later this year for about $80.

[Telegraph]