A Hitachi, Ltd. research institute has developed a basic technology that can read what people think by measuring subtle changes in blood flow in their brains, allowing seriously ill and handicapped people to remotely operate electric appliances, researchers said.

Researchers at the electric giant’s Advanced Research Laboratory hope that the new technology will be applied to not only electric appliances such as TV sets but also wheelchairs and other devices for physically handicapped people.

“We’d like to produce a prototype of a remote controller within a couple of years. We hope to use the results of our research on brain science to develop information technology that is friendly to people,” researcher Hideaki Koizumi said.

The core of the technology is a so-called optical topography system that irradiates near-infrared rays that are not harmful to human bodies in a person’s head, measures how blood flows in their brains — particularly its prefrontal areas — change depending on what they think and shows it on images.

The pictures are converted into electronic signals and sent to remote controllers of electric appliances.

Researchers will use the system to allow seriously ill and handicapped people to switch on and off TV sets and change channels.

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