Brain mapping. Controlling computers with mind-power. EEG-driven gaming.
It all sounds like science fiction -- but eight South Bay interns aged 14 to 21 did just that.
The interns, working all summer in a back room at PV Net, a nonprofit science and technology learning center in Rolling Hills Estates, developed a video game designed to be played by those with quadriplegia -- because it's controlled by the mind alone.
And they did it in three months.
"I knew this was a project that was going to have an impact," said Patrick McGrath, a 20-year-old junior at Cal State Long Beach, who is majoring in computer science with a minor in cybersecurity. "I mean, there aren't many games that deal with EEG data -- if you're paralyzed and you want to play a game, there's not many you can play -- so I wanted to contribute to that field."
The students included Jill Luna Nomura, a senior at UC San Diego; Patrick McGrath, a junior at CSULB; Joe Huber, a senior at Chadwick School; Tommy Nguyen, a 10th-grader at Palos Verdes High School; Joshua Nwabuzor, a CSULB junior; Mark Segal, an eighth-grader at Palos Verdes Intermediate School; Mathias Gutierrez, a Bishop Montgomery 10th-grader; and Daniel Belonio, a CSULB junior.
Former PV Net alumni Richard Hakim, a Palos Verdes High School graduate who is now a Harvard neuroscience doctoral student, acted as a mentor.
The students had to not only create the code for the game itself, but also make a headset that would read a person's brainwaves and turn those waves into computer code. A challenge, even for a group of tech-savvy kids.
"I've never really done anything serious like this, just a lot of little projects on my own," said Segal, an avid coder (and, as the youngest, the only one whose head was small enough to fit the headset prototype). "So this was a first."
The game has three components the interns had to master: The headset, a small dome of 3D-printed plastic laced with wires and prongs; the brain-mapping software that would be read by the game; and the video game, called "Cosmic Crashout," which features a rocket ship navigating basic obstacles through space.
The interns had big ambitions. Initially, they envisioned a game where the player could think the words "UP" or "DOWN" to make the rocket move. But they ended up opting for a soft and hard blink, actions that heightened particular brain waves enough to be read by the game's code.
Most of what these kids told me when they waxed scientific about brain mapping science and EEG technology whisked over my head as quickly as a Google query on a 5G network. There's a reason I became a writer, after all -- and not a mathematician or a scientist.
But their enthusiasm was clear.
"I've always imagined that you could use brain power to play a game, but I've always thought, 'Oh, the technology isn't up to date yet,'" Gutierrez said. "But this helped me learn that it actually is possible.
"I mean, if we're able to do it, what would happen if a big game company did it?"
To be clear, the technology isn't completely new. A team of researchers from UC Davis, for instance, recently developed a brain-computer interface that helped a man with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis successfully speak.
And, Elon Musk's infamous "brain chip" aims to, among other things, help paraplegic people regain movement, as well as restore vision to those born blind. In 2021, Musk's company, Neuralink, released a video that showed a macaque monkey playing the video game "Pong" with its mind.
But finding places to learn how to build this sort of technology is difficult, especially for students.
"Nobody else is doing this," said Ted Vegvari, the owner and founder of PV Net. "(Kids) don't even know that these things exist for them to pursue as a career -- nobody's telling them. Nobody's showing them these things. Nobody is letting them have access to this equipment. So this is why we do this."
Located on the second floor of the Promenade on the Peninsula in Rolling Hills Estates, PV Net has been offering science, engineering and technology classes for 32 years. With classes costing anywhere from $140 for monthlong classes to $1,550 for semester-long course, Vegvari said, the classes are offered at the lowest possible cost to families. (They are funded by both tuition and Vegvari's own contributions, as well as a small portion from public grants.)
"I like to go to sleep at night and feel like I've done something to help make a better next generation," he said, adding that more than 13,000 kids have taken classes at PV Net since it opened.
As for what students can learn, the roster of classes runs the gamut from coding and artificial intelligence programming to more niche interests, including DNA replication and aerospace engineering. Last year, the school offered a class that taught kids asteroid deflection technology, as well as another that sought to find engineering solutions to Rancho Palos Verdes' shifting land problem.
"Our goals are 100% centered around, 'What do we need to help these kids prepare for the careers 20 years from now?'" Vegvari said.
Step inside PV Net's glass doors,and it's a veritable wonderland of technology. We're talking rows of 3D printers, drones, robotic arms, resin printers, green screens, computers, video and music editing equipment, and a DNA sequencing lab.
It's a STEM arsenal that, Vegvari said, is meant to inspire kids to dream big.
"If you can't be introduced to the right career partners in high school," he said, "how are you supposed to find out what you can do best to fulfill your life's mission?"
To learn more about PV Net classes, go to pvnet.com. You can also download Cosmic Crashout from the project's web page, pvnet.com/copy-of-quadriplegic-esport-r-d.