He’s using an old Jedi mind trick

Uncle Milton Industries, a manufacturer of science-based toys, is about to unveil a first: a toy that interacts directly with your brain. Available this August for about $120, the Star Wars Force Trainer lets you levitate a ball using only your mind. Seriously!

The toy works by reading the beta waves from your brain with a wireless headband attachment. The main part of the toy features a ping-pong ball in a clear tube and a fan underneath that allows it to float. But there are no buttons to push to activate the fan; it happens when the headband senses changes in your brainwave patterns.

The Star Wars Force Trainer uses technology that doctors use to monitor brainwaves, the same tech used by amputees to send instructions to artificial limbs. Included in the toy is the voice of Yoda, who helps guide you through several increasingly difficult levels of control.

I’m more intrigued by this technology than the Force Trainer itself. The toy strikes me as a novelty to show all your friends — but something that would grow repetitive pretty fast. But the tech, if harnessed with enough imagination, could lead to some true innovations not only in toy-making but in electronics of all kinds.

Happily, this toy is just the beginning. Already, Mattel is manufacturing a similar toy that will be available this Fall. And Uncle Milton is planning an entire line of toys that utilize this brainwave-sensing technology. The company is planning to show off its toys at Comic-Con International in a few weeks, so perhaps we’ll learn more about it then.

Image: Uncle Milton Industries, Inc.