Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

spectrum.ieee.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 132 posts

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#51

Post by alpaca128 »

formerly_proven wrote: post #29

> A machine learning algorithm then decodes the brain patterns associated with each letter, and a computer displays the letters on a screen. The participant was able to communicate at about 90 characters, or 18 words, per minute. > By comparison, able-bodied people close in age to the study participant can type on a smartphone at about 23 words per minute, the authors say. Adults can type on a full keyboard at an ave…

I'm curious about the WPM test methodology; for example if all those studies use a standardised method or not. Because at least the various WPM testing tools and websites are extremely inconsistent in different aspects.

My own typing speed ranges from ~40WPM to ~110WPM depending on what tool or test method I'm using. For example some tests just use any random word from the dictionary, which of course includes very long and complicated ones, others go as far as to limit themselves to the 100 most common English words. And even with those factors being identical I can still get different speeds depending on the UI; the cursor movement, presentation of the text and input latency all have a measurable impact on the end result.

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#52

Post by faichai »

toomanyducks wrote: post #31
meowface wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to type "semi-competitively" (aka just spending a lot of time on typeracer.com) and could get around 170 WPM if I put enough effort into it. (At least when I was younger. Probably slower now.) 18 WPM would make me feel like a snail. However, I feel fairly confident that within 1 - 3 decades some kind of BCI will let any user surpass the equivalent of 200 - 300 WPM after a bit of training. And hopefully even wi…

Where do you get that confidence? Reading the article, I'm mostly seeing somewhat deliberately hyped-up claims and hand-wavey references to AI, neither of which give me much confidence in this tech taking a tremendous leap anytime soon. Still very impressive, but as someone who knows nothing about the tech, I'm not sure why I should expect it to improve so quickly?

The fact that we can apparently detect repeatable patterns of brain activity, and do it across a few modalities (handwriting, cursor movements) shows that a lot of the core problems are solved. We’ve achieved Proof of Concept.

With greater sensor fidelity, greater quantity of data, improved ML approaches combined with alternate detection targets (particularly subvocalisation) means that getting to faster than parity WPM seems like a realistic result. Incremental improvements to tech is something we humans are quite good at.

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#53

Post by Jeff_Brown »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #42

I write at 50 wpm, type at 100, and speak at 150, a brain interface would have to be 300 or more to make it worth wearing another wearable.

I type only slightly.slower than I think, so really no keyboard interface would be worth my while.

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#54

Post by D13Fd »

Jeff_Brown wrote: post #45
martin_a wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What's the better measure of typing speed Full words correct with no typos. If you want to measure this, you're interested in the combination of reading speed and muscle memory while typing. If you're making typos, your muscle memory is not good. Using a spell checker to automatically fix those words... Well, the number is not comparable, then.

That feels pedantic to me. A more important, but also more difficult, measure would be of information conveyed, regardless of how it's accomplished. A very effective friend of mine once said if your messages are perfect you're spending the oo much time on them.

It depends on the context. If you write for a living, then one relevant metric is how quickly you type with no errors (although perhaps a better metric would be how quickly you get error-free work product out, including revisions).

If you're talking about who can send text messages to another person faster, then the "typos included" metric makes more sense.

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#55

Post by carapace »

Apologies to those who've heard it before, but whenever BCI comes up I feel obliged to point out that, when you connect a computer to a brain, the brain is the more sophisticated information processor.

Use hypnosis.

You can have effective fast communication to the machine without any fancy technology (and certainly without surgery!) The subjective experience is "think to type". I expect that these days you can use a camera and ML to "read thoughts" directly from facial muscles, no need for GVR or IMUs on the fingers.

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#56

Post by gxs »

formerly_proven wrote: post #29

> A machine learning algorithm then decodes the brain patterns associated with each letter, and a computer displays the letters on a screen. The participant was able to communicate at about 90 characters, or 18 words, per minute. > By comparison, able-bodied people close in age to the study participant can type on a smartphone at about 23 words per minute, the authors say. Adults can type on a full keyboard at an ave…

My average typing speed is 80-110, but I can max out at 121. This is for standard english words, not the crazy blocks of letters and special characters used for competition, which IMO isn't practical for the average user.

I actually spend a few minutes every few weeks taking typing tests etc, as it's a valuable skill to me.

I figure if the average typing speed is somewhere between 50-80 WPM, if I can type 50% faster, in theory, I'm responding to emails and commenting in general 50% faster.

It's just a nicer experience using a computer if you can type fast. Sometimes it's easier to command-backspace and retype an entire line/word than it is to move the cursor and correct the error. It's also just plain nice to have only your thoughts to worry about when typing and not have the cognitive overhead of trying to keep track of where all the letters on the keyboard are.

All in all, I would recommend improving your typing speed if you spend any type of meaningful time on a computer.

A fun 1-minute test that is somewhat practical here: 10fastfingers.com

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#57

Post by Jeff_Brown »

InvaderFizz wrote: post #14
zyemuzu wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. One of the reasons I hate using my phone to type is how slow I am compared to using a full keyboard. This would be hell for me.

The original iPhone is the perfect size for my hands and thumb typing. I was quite fast in landscape due to the placement of everything and my ability to also rock the phone while I typed. This increased my speed dramatically. Sadly, that is not really an option anymore as I gladly give it up for the larger real estate of the 6" models. If I have something long to say and I'm not too concerned about accuracy, I just…

That makes me wonder whether cell phones should let you customize the keyboard, esp. the size of it.

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#58

Post by carapace »

fnord77 wrote: post #44

will such an interface ever be possible without invasive implants in your brain?

Yes. The "secret" is to use hypnosis to "program" your unconscious mind to emit signals corresponding to your conscious "stream of thought". The result is a subjective experience of thinking words and they appear on the screen. Someone else in this thread speculated about e.g. controlling an extra pair of (artificial) arms to play the piano with four hands. That sort of thing should be straightforward too.

In re: the technology to take the signals and transduce them to e.g. a byte-stream without surgery. First was Galvanic Skin Response, then when IMUs (Inertial Measurement Units) were miniaturized enough you could use those instead of GVR, nowadays (as I mentioned in a sib comment) you can use a camera and ML to recognize e.g. muscle twitches in the face or whole body.

(I have no idea why people are not more interested in this angle, even BCI enthusiasts seem to have a blindspot here and just go on about surgery and implants. If anyone is interested, let me know and I can explain further. FWIW, I don't bother to do this myself because I can already type as fast as I need to. In fact, I was a hunt-and-peck typist for years! I'm not proud, just explaining why I don't bother to explore hypnotic low-tech BCI.)

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#59

Post by twobitshifter »

Jeff_Brown wrote: post #46
castis wrote: post #41

This is the "next" technology I'm excited about. A cap/something that lets me provide another input device to my machine where I can treat it like a keyboard. Imagine being able to think about a chord and have that input sent to stdin. What could be extra cool is just imagining a loop construct in your head and it just appears in your text editor. Is there already a scene for this? Sign me up.

I'll be excited when it lets me do things I can't yet, like control a second pair of arms. Every piano player's dream.

Robotic extra thumb: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2277955-this-robotic-ex...

But they use toes to control the thumb instead of BMI.

Re: Brain-Computer Interface Smashes Previous Record for Typing Speed

#60

Post by airstrike »

formerly_proven wrote: post #29

> A machine learning algorithm then decodes the brain patterns associated with each letter, and a computer displays the letters on a screen. The participant was able to communicate at about 90 characters, or 18 words, per minute. > By comparison, able-bodied people close in age to the study participant can type on a smartphone at about 23 words per minute, the authors say. Adults can type on a full keyboard at an ave…

Touchscreen typing on native keyboards always feels slow to me, but with apps like SwiftKey which remap the boundaries of the virtual keyboard to better match your intended keystrokes I can type significantly faster. Add swiping and completion to that and I'm pretty confident one can easily beat that 23wpm mark
Post reply on HN