It’s one thing to develop an interface that lets you control slow-moving robots with your thoughts alone, but it’s quite another to let you play pinball that way. But a machine built by researchers at prestigious Technische Universität Berlin in Germany makes just that possible.

All users need to do is to wear an elastic cap with electrodes attached to it and think about moving their arms. The researchers claim that people usually need between ten and thirty minutes of dry runs before being able to play pinball without arms.

They also say their system is the fastest worldwide, with lags being in the 600 millisecond to one full second range. And the technology isn’t good for fun stuff only, but also suitable for “serious” applications, such as home assistance for impaired people. The most expensive part is the cap, as the system just requires conventional computers to work.

You can watch a video with a person playing pinball by his thoughts alone here [GER].

Via Der Spiegel [GER]