A major event took place on June 19, 2026, at the VivaTech trade show in Paris. Several volunteer visitors took part in an experiment orchestrated by Innov8 and HABS: enabling a human being to communicate with a humanoid robot through thought alone. Our journalist, Djamel Khamès, was there.
Innov8 (1), a distributor notably specializing in humanoid robots, and Human Augmented Brain Systems (HABS) (2), a neuroscience startup, demonstrated at VivaTech 2026 that a human being is capable of transmitting information to a humanoid robot through telepathy.
A visitor with no affiliation to either company agreed to participate in the demonstration. Wearing a headband equipped with sensors, the participant first completed a brief training session lasting a few minutes, allowing the sensors to establish the decoding keys for his brain activity. He was then asked to focus intensely on one of three cards presented to him. The cards depicted a person, a piece of music, and a calculator.
The electrical signals generated by his brain were immediately captured by the sensors. Using algorithms derived from the Neuro-AI language model developed by HABS, these signals were analyzed and converted into data. The data was then transmitted via a Wi-Fi radio signal to the humanoid robot’s receiver.
The humanoid robot then took over. Thanks to the collaborative work of Innov8 and HABS, it was able to identify the image corresponding to the data received via Wi-Fi. It then pointed to the selected card with a hand gesture and mimicked the use of a calculator.
Stéphane Bohbot, Innov8 founder and CEO explained:
“The robot’s movements during this final stage were the result of Innov8’s engineering expertise.”
According to the event organizers, spectators witnessed a world first that day.
Enhancing the Identification of Our Emotions
Brain waves are frequencies produced by millions of neurons. Each frequency corresponds to a distinct mental state, and it is their composition, which means their combination across different regions of the brain, that generates emotions.
But how does HABS create and improve the algorithms capable of identifying our emotions? For Othman Chiheb, HABS’s Marketing Director,
“Every month, 300 people visit our laboratory in Saclay to take part in a one-hour exercise. During this exercise, we analyze their brain’s biometric data while they reproduce specific emotions requested by our researchers. The data collected enriches our cognitive database, which is designed to improve emotion recognition by a synthetic brain.”
The next step consists of generating specific emotions within the synthetic brain. If the brain waves produced by the synthetic brain match those of human brains, the equivalent of a large language model, called Neuro AI, becomes more reliable.
The continuous enrichment of HABS’s language model is one of the key factors behind its lead in non-invasive brain-machine interfaces, unlike Neuralink’s approach. Founded by Elon Musk, Neuralink relies on implanted chips.
Notes
(1) During VivaTech 2026, Innov8 Power, a subsidiary of the Innov8 Group, officially announced its partnership with Unitree Robotics, a leading company in quadruped and humanoid robotics. The agreement marks the launch of a new division dedicated to intelligent robotics. Its distinguishing feature is the development of customized computer interfaces.
(2) HABS is a French startup founded in 2023 and specializing in non-invasive neurotechnologies aimed at making brain-wave data actionable through its proprietary technology. Its solutions are already being used in sectors such as healthcare, cybersecurity, and neuromarketing.
