By day the folks at Chaotic Moon Studios are hard at work (and by “hard at work” I mean partying 24×7) creating some of the most innovative and successful mobile applications.  However, beyond this banal facade and “[d]eep beneath the earth’s surface in a fortified zombie-proof bunker lies Chaotic Moon Labs, the Research and Development division of Chaotic Moon Studios.”

What, pray tell, do the wizards at CM.Labs create as they toil away in their subterranean lair?  Only some of the most curious robotic personal conveyances and interfaces I’ve seen since the Segway was released on December 3, 2001 (I still think that Jobs, Doerr, Metcalf, and others waaay overplayed the significance of the vehicle code named “Ginger”).

The first video is features their aptly named “Board of Awesomeness” which “is intended as a technology teaser to show how perceptive computing can turn around the way we look at user experiences. The project utilizes a Microsoft Kinect device, Samsung Windows 8 tablet, a motorized longboard, and some standard and custom hardware to create a longboard that watches the user to determine what to do rather than have the operator use a wired or wireless controller. The project uses video recognition, speech recognition, localization data, accelerometer data, and other factors to determine what the user wants to do and allows the board to follow the operators commands without additional aid.”

The second video features their newly released (and also appropriately named) “Board of Imagination” that uses the passenger’s thoughts to control the motion of the board.  The board uses integrated Emotiv EPOC headset which allows the rider to simply imagine moving to the spot they desire and the “Emotive headset picks up your brainwaves, massages your theta waves (among others) with the Emotive Engine and then sets the motor controller to the correct speed to make your imagination a reality.”

Related articles:

• RYNO Motors micro-cycle (marshallstanton.com)
• First manned multicopter flight (marshallstanton.com)
• Tron: Legacy Lightcycle (marshallstanton.com)
• Thought-controlled mechanical systems by Toyota (marshallstanton.com)
• First the Segway and now the YikeBike; personal transportation is undergoing a renaissance (marshallstanton.com)