Brain Computer Interfaces

We are all familiar with the Cerebro device used by the Professor in X-Men comics/movies. A similar but more realistic equipment is the brain computer interface or BCI. It has many other names like the human-computer interface or man-machine interface and so on. Technically, the BCI is a signal processing system that enables information exchange between the human brain and a central processing unit. In other words, this device permits humans to 'talk' to machines without any natural speech or actions. It uses the electric signals generated from the human brain to recognize the subject's intends. The signal collection is usually performed through electroencephalography or EEG. All BCIs that exist today are unidirectional, i.e, they can allow the machine only to hear the human brain 'talk', but cannot 'talk back'.

How a software interacts with hardware? - Basics of Computer Electronics

In modern computer programming, every software is written using a software programming language. This text program (called high level language) is then converted into runnable (executable - low level language) format by special softwares called compilers(or interpreters). The specialty of this low level language is that it could be understood by a hardware (precisely a microprocessor - a type of electronic component which can perform electronic operation based on software codes). The microprocessor reads the program (low level) and perform the corresponding action.

Now the microprocessor understands a particular code by reading (actually, its sensing electronically) the bits in the particular code. For example if a microprocessor is made in such a way that it will make its 5th pin to +5 voltage level when it reads a bit sequence 0010011, then the processor perform the action whenever it reads a 0010011 in the code. In this way the actions to be performed by a particular microprocessor and the corresponding bit sequence is defined at the time the microprocessor is manufactured. As you know, in a computer system, the microprocessor is the brain, so all the operations are carried out by it.

The computer peripherals (like mouse, keyboard etc) are identified by using configuration files called drivers. These files contain the information that is to be used for interacting with the hardware. The Operating System (windows, linux etc) controls and monitors the peripheral (hardware) control and management.