Hot off the press!

And just when I went back to dig up more stories, this hits the front page:

Ted Berger, rocker of many socks, has released a report on the state of BCI. It is long, it is free, and I have only skimmed it, but good stuff. Here's the breakdown:

The report contains three overall findings on Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) work worldwide:

-- BCI research is extensive and rapidly growing, as is growth in the interfaces between multiple key scientific areas, including biomedical engineering, neuroscience, computer science, electrical and computer engineering, materials science and nanotechnology, and neurology and neurosurgery.

-- BCI research is rapidly approaching first-generation medical practice—clinical trials of invasive BCI technologies and significant home use of noninvasive, electroencephalography (EEG-based) BCIs. The panel predicts that BCIs soon will markedly influence the medical device industry, and additionally BCI research will rapidly accelerate in non-medical arenas of commerce as well, particularly in the gaming, automotive, and robotics industries.

-- The focus of BCI research throughout the world was decidedly uneven, with invasive BCIs almost exclusively centered in North America, noninvasive BCI systems evolving primarily from European and Asian efforts. BCI research in Asia, and particularly China, is accelerating, with advanced algorithm development for EEG-based systems currently a hallmark of China's BCI program. Future BCI research in China is clearly developing toward invasive BCI systems, so BCI researchers in the US will soon have a strong competitor.

It is over 200 pages, and at first glance a really nice report of the state of the art. (Several other very prominent authors, as well.) Found the report news release here, and the actual reports (free to everyone!) is here (6MB pdf). For anyone asking, "Could you recommend a good general overview of the field?" this would be it.