(Forbes.com)

The Force, it seems, is not so strong with this one.

In the virtual world of a game called Neuroboy, I'm staring out over a lagoon at an exact digital replica of a Star Wars X-wing spaceship submerged in blue water. My task: to lift that virtual object out of its murky depths using not my mouse or keyboard, but instead — à la Luke Skywalker — my thoughts.

Back in the real world, I'm wearing a bluetooth headset that touches my forehead with a single metal sensor. The more I relax, according to the headset's manufacturer, Neurosky, the more that small metal point will pick up my brain's alpha waves, triggering the ship to rise.

I relax. The spaceship doesn't budge. I close my eyes to slits and let myself slip into a half-trance daze. The ship wiggles ever so slightly, and I respond with a bit of hopeful excitement that immediately sends it sinking back into the water.

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After a minute or so of frustration, I retreat to my keyboard to switch the game from "lift" to "pull" mode. Suddenly, and without a single Jedi mind trick, the X-wing leaps toward me and fills the entire screen, only coming to rest when I pull off the headset to break the sensor's connection with my forehead. Either my mental powers aren't yet ready for Neurosky's gadgetry, or vice versa.

Ready or not, telekinesis gadgets like Neurosky's so-called "Mindset" are coming to market, along with those built by competitors like OCZ Technology and Emotiv Systems. Neurosky plans to announce Thursday at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco that it's partnering with Toshiba to release the $199 US consumer headsets this summer, along with a software platform for third-party developers to create games and other applications for the device.

In my tests of Neurosky's headset, the device captured some degree of real thought, appearing to respond to my levels of attention or relaxation with only a fraction of a second of delay.

The gadgets will sell under Toshiba's brand in Japan and under Neurosky's in the U.S. San Francisco-based Emotiv, meanwhile, plans to begin selling its own brain-computer interface headset in the fall for $299. And San Jose, Calif.-based OCZ has a second-generation wireless version of its Neural Impulse Actuator gaming headset in the works for this summer.

Though the technology has its share of bugs, a cheap and simple brain machine interface seems to be more than wishful thinking. In my tests of Neurosky's headset, the device captured some degree of real thought, appearing to respond to my levels of attention or relaxation with only a fraction of a second of delay.

In one software demo, focusing on any single point caused an image of a barrel to emit flames. The more intent my focus, the faster the barrel burned. Distractions, on the other hand, like a phone call or chatty colleagues (many of whom were curious as to why I was wearing a headset and staring intently at a picture of a barrel) squelched the fire within a second or two.

According to the company's chief executive, Stanley Yang, the headset's sensor measures the frequency and amplitude of the electrical signals emitted by the brain's neurons. Neurosky's software, he says, distinguishes which brainwave patterns represent two basic mental states: a visual focus on a single point, in which a frequency known as beta waves dominate, or a state of relaxation, in which a lower frequency known as alpha waves dominate.

"To develop these patterns, we tested thousands of subjects across different age groups, gender and race in all sorts of environments," Yang says. "The result is a set of algorithms that can accurately detect the depth of those states of concentration or relaxation."

Andrew Schwartz, a neurologist with the University of Pittsburgh, has a different take on how a cheap consumer headset can accurately read mental states. "It can't," he says.

Study examines thought of wired monkeys

Last May, Schwartz led a team of researchers who showed that computer-wired monkeys were capable of manipulating a robotic arm to feed themselves with thought alone, a study that was published in Nature. But that system used electrodes implanted in the primates' brains via holes in their skulls, not mere topical sensors.

Schwartz says he hasn't tested any of the consumer gadgets for thought control, but he's skeptical that any system of sensors outside the head could distinguish brainwaves — electroencephalographic data, or EEG — from the electric signals of the scalp's muscles, which are often far easier to detect. "The electrical signals would be very noisy," he says. "It's unlikely you could measure anything but muscle movement, and even if they do catch a glimmer of EEG, it wouldn't be enough to mean anything."

But other neuroscientists are more optimistic. Jonathan Wolpaw, a researcher at the New York State Health Department's Wadsworth Center, believes that topical electrodes are enough to create brain computer interfaces that are just as responsive as Schwartz's in-brain electrode systems, without the unappealing thought of removing a dime-sized chunk of a patient's skull.

His systems — designed primarily for paralyzed patients suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease or spinal injuries — place 10 electrodes at various points around the head, with dabs of conductive gel under each sensor.

But reading alpha and beta waves as Neurosky's headset purports to do isn't simple, Wolpaw says. He questions the company's choice to read a single signal from the forehead, where muscle impulses are often strongest. "The frequencies overlap to a large extent," Wolpaw says. "So you often have to read signals from multiple areas to try to filter out muscle activity."

That may be one area where Neurosky competitor Emotiv could have a better approach. Instead of a single sensor above a user's eyebrow, Emotiv's headset touches a player's cranium in 16 different spots. That wider data set allows users to actually perform different commands with different thoughts. With a bit of training, a user can think "push" and push a virtual object, and then think "pull" to pull it back, claims the company's co-founder Tan Le.

"We approach the idea of a brain computer interface very differently from Neurosky," Le says. "If you want a toy, then there's no need for a sophisticated device with so many sensors. But if you're an adult looking for a complex platform for interacting with virtual worlds and multimedia software, we offer a much broader range of applications."

Even so, Emotiv's interface can't replace a mouse. According to Nam Do, another Emotiv co-founder, the technology takes at least 150 milliseconds to respond — far too slow for easily manipulating a cursor.

$7.7M invested in Neurosky

As imperfect as both companies' technologies may be, they've each found real venture funding. Neurosky says it's received a total of $7.7 million in investments but wouldn't reveal the investors. Emotiv has taken $15 million in funding from Technology Venture Partners, Epicure Capital Partners, Stillwater Capital and the Australian federal government.

Turning that investment into revenue will partly involve licensing the brain-computer interface technology. In Neurosky's case, it's already sold its sensor and software combination to toy makers Mattel and Uncle Milton.

Mattel is planning an $80 game called Mindflex, where players move a floating ball magnetically by adjusting their concentration level. The goal is to put the ball through a tiny obstacle course of hoops and cups. Uncle Milton's Star Wars-themed toy, called Force Trainer, will allow children to move a sphere up and down in a transparent tube using their headset-captured thoughts.

Force Trainer goes on sale in the fall for around $100. A hefty expense for a simple party trick, perhaps — but a small price to pay to join the Jedi Order.