Fall asleep gently, take control of your dreams, actively participate in them and remember them when you wake up. This is the promise of this connected headset worthy of a science fiction film which could well brighten up your nights.
Taking control of your dreams remains a recurring subject in many science fiction books and films. Just imagine: being able, during your dream, to intervene on the characters, situations, environments… in short, control your dream and remember it! This is what we call lucid dreams, a particular state of sleep during which the prefrontal cortex remains active, making it possible not only to influence the dream but also to remember it. A small fraction of the population is capable of naturally carrying out this type of experiment more or less regularly. But the situation could well change with the Halo headset developed by the American company Prophetic. The goal: to allow everyone to experience lucid dreams whenever they want, by simply putting on a headset before falling asleep. The result is almost tailor-made dreams but also a way to avoid nightmares. A device that people suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome such as victims of assault probably dream of.
The Halo helmet is not a scary device as they are usually depicted in science fiction films. It takes the form of a simple headband to put on the head at forehead level, associated with a small box connected by a wire, to place on the bedside table. And there’s nothing invasive about its operation either. No electrodes to stick here or there or metal pins to sink into the skull. The headset simply sends ultrasound to specific areas of the brain. A simpler and also safer way, according to the researchers who developed it, to stimulate targeted areas without damaging the surrounding area with an electric current.
But that’s not all. Artificial intelligence is also involved. Prophetic works with the Dutch research center Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior. This organization provides brain data obtained by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) from lucid dreamers in order to perfect the processing algorithm making it possible to artificially reproduce the waves stimulating lucid dreams. With this database, the Halo should be able to adapt to every dreamer.
The Prophetic company behind the project is, for its part, not made up of sweet dreamers. Active there, among others, Afshin Mehin, one of the architects of Neuralink, the system initiated by Elon Musk which allows you to control a computer by thought, or Sterling Crispin, one of Apple’s engineers specializing in neurotechnology having worked on the Apple brand’s next Vision Pro mixed reality headset. The Halo is currently still in the development phase. Even if pre-orders are already open (for a deposit of 100 dollars). According to Prophetic’s predictions, it should be finalized at the end of 2024 and available during the first half of 2025. Its cost should still be between 1500 and 2000 euros.