Thought-Wired launches PledgeMe Equity campaign

NEWS RELEASE: AUGUST 17, 2016

Funding thought-controlled communication for the disabled

Imagine being able to communicate with the outside world using just the power of your thoughts.

Picture how life-changing that would be if you were severely disabled and had no physical way of communicating — no ability to speak or move your limbs.

The technology exists, right here in New Zealand.

With the help of a simple headset, users’ brainwaves can be interpreted by computer software.

Auckland entrepreneur Dmitry Selitskiy and his small team at Thought-Wired have been working on making brain-computer interface technology useful to people with disabilities, over the past six years. “We’re now at a stage where the technology that we have designed and tested has huge potential to help people. We need to move our start-up business to the next level to reach our goal of making this technology available to as many people with disabilities as possible,” Selitskiy says.

“We have been a core team of three people for almost six years and we have worked long hours to bring Thought-Wired to this point. Now we are seeking investors to help us get to the next stage. That’s why we’ve launched our PledgeMe Equity campaign on August 17,” he says.

Thought-Wired’s star product, nous™, is still in development but has the potential to allow people with severe physical disabilities to control any kind of computer system or app.

“Anything that you might usually use a touchscreen or keyboard to use, could be controlled using nous™ and brain computer interface technology,” Selitskiy says. “Over the last year we have worked through some serious technical roadblocks to make the product more robust and have successfully tested it with people who have severe physical disabilities.”

The PledgeMe Equity campaign will allow Thought-Wired to launch nous™ commercially and get it into the hands of early adopters. These are people who can not move or talk but are not cognitively impaired, and will get the greatest benefit from nous™.

“This first version of nous™ allows for yes and no responses, custom multiple choice answers, and interaction with programs that can be controlled with a few keys from a keyboard. Even being given that level of communication makes a huge difference to someone who can not communicate at all.

“My dream, however, is to make the world accessible to everyone. In five years’ time, my goal is that Thought-Wired will be a world leader in natural interface technology and have a user base of more than 10,000 people. “The possibilities are endless. Whether you want to control a music playlist, a home automation system or a text-to-voice communication system, these are all possible using nous™,” Selitskiy says.

See http://pldg.me/tw for more information about the PledgeMe Equity campaign and www.thought-wired.com for more information about nous™.

Originally published at shop.thought-wired.com on August 17, 2016.