Virtual reality powered by ... our minds? '10 years from now, it will seem obvious’

EyeMynd wants to create a system in which thoughts, not handsets, will control our actions in virtual reality worlds

Dan Cook first began exploring the commercial potential of brainwave technology 20 years ago, working with a government agency interested in developing better lie detectors and pharmaceutical companies who wanted to understand the neurological impact of their drugs.

Back in 1993, virtual reality was a hobby for eccentric geeks and, thanks to the dystopian futurism of The Lawnmower Man, a Hollywood novelty. But Cook had a vision to develop animated human avatars powered directly by signals from the human brain, and left his postgraduate work in cognitive neuroscience at UC Berkeley for the commercial frontier.