A Toronto company is banking on the support of tech loving consumers to bring its latest creation — a brainwave sensing headband — to market.

King Street West startup InteraXon is best known for large scale installations of thought-control computing, which, for instance, saw people using their minds to light up the CN Tower or Niagara Falls during the Vancouver Olympcis.

Now the five-year-old firm, comprised of neuroscientists, engineers, designers and artists, has turned to crowd funding website indiegogo to raise $150,000 for Muse, its latest foray in brainwave-controlled interfaces (BCI).

The slim wireless headband slips over ears like glasses. Using Bluetooth, its sensors connect to smartphone or tablet, enabling a range of activity.

“Our early apps will be focused on building the core of your mind to improve intellectual skills such as memory and concentration, or emotional skills like maintaining composure in high-stress situations,” says InteraXon literature. “Other Muse apps would be just plain fun stuff so you could paint or compose music with your mind or play video games using your mind as the game controller.”

Within 10 years, the device should be able to let people control lights and the temperature in a room with their minds, said creators.

“We’re still at the early stages of thought-control technology; for now the control applications are predominately fun things,” said InteraXon co-founder and CEO Ariel Garten.

“The potential is pretty endless, so we’re really excited to get it into people’s hands. You can put this thing on your head and you can see your brain in action and be able to use that information to understand yourself better and be able to make yourself smarter.

“(For example) if you’re studying for a test, you could use the Muse to train your attention so that you’ll be better able to focus and study. You’ll do a few minutes of Muse training: put on your headband and it’ll give you exercises to improve your focus. Basically, you’re playing games with your mind and in the process of doing that improving your focus and decreasing your working memory interaction.

“Down the road this is going to be a standard way to interact with your technology just like voice and gesture technology seemed like complete science fiction 30 years ago.”

But the company needs a financial boosts to take their creation from prototype to finished product with aims to hit the market next summer for $199.99 (U.S.).

They’ve already raised $146,000 in the indiegogo campaign which expires Dec. 7.

“$150,000 was the first milestone, the bare minimum,” said Garten. Realistically, we would like to raise $500,000, $600,000 on indiegogo. That would allow us to bring the product to market faster and more efficiently and with better applications. So we can then take that money and build out much better and stronger first apps.”

It shouldn’t be hard to find corporate funding for their brainwave, but the company likes consumer participation.

“It doesn’t leave us in that position where there’s a (venture capitalist) that has given you money and all of a sudden they determine your future,” said Garten. “It allows us to maintain control, and really trust, in how we want to develop the technology and its applications.”

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The indiegogo pledges have come from varied sources.

“Some of it is our network,” said Garten. “Some are game developers. Some are moms with kids with cerebral palsy. Some are people who are so excited about the technology. Some are just average folks from the Midwest. It’s a phenomenal cross section.”