Brain Controlled Tracked Robot

January 20, 2017 by 1 Comment

[Imetomi] found himself salvaging a camera from a broken drone when he decided to use it in a new project, a tracked robot with a live video feed from the mounted camera.

… I had a cheap Chinese drone that was broken, but its camera seemed to be operating and when I took apart my drone I found a small WiFi chip with a video transmitter. I (decided) that I will use this little circuit for a project and I started to buy and salvage the parts.

Being a tracked robot, it can negotiate most types of terrain and climb hills up to 40 degrees. It is powered by two 18650 lithium-ion batteries with a capacity of 2600 mAh and the remote control is based on the HC-12 serial communication module. You can control it with a joystick and watch the camera’s live-stream in a virtual reality glass. That’s pretty neat but it’s not all.

[Imetomi] also used a hacked Nacomimi Brainwave Toy to make a brain controlled version of his robot. The brainwaves are detected using sensors placed on the scalp. To actually control it the operator has to focus on the right hand to move right, focus on the left hand to move left, blink to move forward and blink again to stop. There is also an ultrasonic sensor to help navigation so the robot doesn’t bump into things. It’s not very precise but you can always build the joystick version or, even better, make a version with both controls.

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Hacklet 105 – More Mind And Brain Hacks

April 30, 2016 by 7 Comments

A mind is a terrible thing to waste – but an awesome thing to hack. We last visited brain hacks back in July of 2015. Things happen fast on Hackaday.io. Miss a couple of days, and you’ll miss a bunch of great new projects, including some awesome new biotech hacks. This week, we’re checking out some of the best new mind and brain hacks on Hackaday.io

We start with [Daniel Felipe Valencia V] and Brainmotic. Brainmotic is [Daniel’s] entry in the 2016 Hackaday Prize. Smart homes and the Internet of Things are huge buzzwords these days. [Daniel’s] project aims to meld this technology with electroencephalogram (EEG). Your mind will be able to control your home. This would be great for anyone, but it’s especially important for the handicapped. Brainmotic’s interface is using the open hardware OpenBCI as the brain interface. [Daniel’s] software and hardware will create a bridge between this interface and the user’s home.

 

biofeed1Next we have [Angeliki Beyko] with Serial / Wireless Brainwave Biofeedback. EEG used to be very expensive to implement. Things have gotten cheap enough that we now have brain controlled toys on the market. [Angeliki] is hacking these toys into useful biofeedback tools. These tools can be used to visualize, and even control the user’s state of mind. [Angeliki’s] weapon of choice is the MindFlex series of toys. With the help of a PunchThrouch LightBlue Bean she was able to get the EEG headsets talking on Bluetooth. A bit of fancy software on the PC side allows the brainwave signals relieved by the MindFlex to be interpreted as simple graphs. [Angeliki] even went on to create a Mind-Controlled Robotic Xylophone based on this project.

brainhelmetNext is [Stuart Longland] who hopes to protect brains with Improved Helmets. Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is in the spotlight of medical technology these days. As bad as it may be, TBI is just one of several types of head and neck injuries one may sustain when in a bicycle or motorcycle accident. Technology exists to reduce injury, and is included with some new helmets. Many of these technologies, such as MIPS, are patented. [Stuart] is working to create a more accurate model of the head within the helmet, and the brain within the skull. From this data he intends to create a license free protection system which can be used with new helmets as well as retrofitted to existing hardware.

mindwaveFinally we have [Tom Meehan], whose entry in the 2016 Hackaday Prize is Train Your Brain with Neurofeedback. [Tom] is hoping to improve quality of life for people suffering from Epilepsy, Autism, ADHD, and other conditions with the use of neurofeedback. Like [Angeliki ] up above, [Tom] is hacking hardware from NeuroSky. In this case it’s the MindWave headset. [Tom’s] current goal is to pull data from the TAGM1 board inside the MindWave. Once he obtains EEG data, a Java application running on the PC side will allow him to display users EEG information. This is a brand new project with updates coming quickly – so it’s definitely one to watch!

If you want more mind hacking goodness, check out our freshly updated brain hacking project list! Did I miss your project? Don’t be shy, just drop me a message on Hackaday.io. That’s it for this week’s Hacklet, As always, see you next week. Same hack time, same hack channel, bringing you the best of Hackaday.io!

Brain Waves Can Answer Spock’s (and VR’s) Toughest Question

February 16, 2016 by 12 Comments

In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the usually unflappable Spock found himself stumped by one question: How do you feel? If researchers at the University of Memphis and IBM are correct, computers by Spock’s era might not have to ask. They’d know.

[Pouya Bashivan] and his colleagues used a relatively inexpensive EEG headset and machine learning techniques to determine if, with limited hardware, the computer could derive a subject’s mental state. This has several potential applications including adapting virtual reality avatars to match the user’s mood. A more practical application might be an alarm that alerts a drowsy driver.

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Kay Igwe Explains Brain Gaming Through SSVEP

December 3, 2015 by 12 Comments

We had some incredible speakers at the Hackaday SuperConference. One of the final talks was given by [Kay Igwe], a graduate electrical engineering student at Columbia University. [Kay] has worked in nanotechnology as well as semiconductor manufacturing for Intel. These days, she’s spending her time playing games – but not with her hands.

Many of us love gaming, and probably spend way too much time on our computers, consoles, or phones playing games. But what about people who don’t have the use of their hands, such as ALS patients? Bringing gaming to the disabled is what prompted  [Kay] to work on Control iT, a brain interface for controlling games. Brain-computer interfaces invoke images of Electroencephalography (EEG) machines. Usually that means tons of electrodes, gel in your hair, and data which is buried in the noise.

[Kay Igwe] is exploring a very interesting phenomenon that uses flashing lights to elicit very specific, and easy to detect brain waves. This type of interface is very promising and is the topic of the talk she gave at this year’s Hackaday SuperConference. Check out the video of her presentation, then join us after the break as we dive into the details of her work.

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Hacklet 56 – Brain Hacks

July 17, 2015 by 7 Comments

The brain is the most powerful – and least understood computer known to man. For these very reasons, working with the mind has long been an attraction for hackers, makers, and engineers. Everything from EEG to magnetic stimulus to actual implants have found their way into projects. This week’s Hacklet is about some of the best brain hacks on Hackaday.io!

teensy-bio[Paul Stoffregen], father of the Teensy, is hard at work on Biopotential Signal Library, his entry in the 2015 Hackaday Prize. [Paul] isn’t just hacking his own mind, he’s creating a library and reference design using the Teensy 3.1. This library will allow anyone to read electroencephalogram (EEG) signals without having to worry about line noise filtering, signal processing, and all the other details that make recording EEG signals hard. [Paul] is making this happen by having the Teensy’s cortex M4 processor perform interrupt driven acquisition and filtering in the background. This leaves the user’s Arduino sketch free to actually work with the data, rather than acquiring it. The initial hardware design will collect data from TI ADS129x chips, which are 24 bit ADCs with 4 or 8 simultaneous channels. [Paul] plans to add more chips to the library in the future.

 

bioxNext up is [Jae Choi] with Lucid Dream Communication Link. [Jae] hopes to create a link between the dream world and the real world. To do this, they are utilizing BioEXG, a device [Jae] designed to collect several types of biological signals. Data enters the system through several active probes. These probes use common pogo pins to make contact with the wearer’s skin. [Jae] says the active probes were able to read EEG signals even through their thick hair! Communication between dreams and the real world will be accomplished with eye movements. We haven’t heard from [Jae] in awhile – so we hope they aren’t caught in limbo!

bioloop[Qquuiinn] is working from a different angle to build bioloop, their entry in the 2015 Hackaday Prize. Rather than using EEG signals, [Qquuiinn] is going with Galvanic Skin Response (GSR). GSR is easy to measure compared to EEG signals. [Qquuiinn] is using an Arduino Pro Mini to perform all their signal acquisition and processing. This biofeedback signal has been used for decades by devices like polygraph “lie detector” machines. GSR values change as the sweat glands become active. It provides a window into a person’s psychological or physiological stress levels. [Qquuiinn] hopes bioloop will be useful both to individuals and to mental health professionals.

biomonitorFinally we have [Marcin Byczuk] with Biomonitor. Biomonitor can read both EEG and electrocardiogram (EKG) signals. Unlike the other projects on today’s Hacklet, Biomonitor is wireless. It uses a Bluetooth radio to transmit data to a nearby PC or smartphone. The main processor in Biomonitor is an 8 bit ATmega8L. Since the 8L isn’t up to a lot of signal processing, [Marcin] does much of his filtering the old fashioned way – in hardware. Carefully designed op-amp based active filters provide more than enough performance when measuring these types of signals. Biomonitor has already found it’s way into academia, being used in both the PalCom project, and brain-computer interface research.

If you want more brain hacking goodness, check out our brain hacking project list! Did I miss your project? Don’t be shy, just drop me a message on Hackaday.io. That’s it for this week’s Hacklet, As always, see you next week. Same hack time, same hack channel, bringing you the best of Hackaday.io!

Human-Machine Interface Projects At TEI 2016

June 27, 2015 by 2 Comments

For many of us, interacting with computers may be as glorious as punching keys and smearing touch screens with sweaty fingers and really bad posture. While functional, it’s worth reimagining a world where our conversation with technology is far more intuitive, ergonomic, and engaging. Enter TEI, an annual conference devoted to human-computer interaction and a landmark for novel projects that reinvent the conventional ways we engage our computers. TEI isn’t just another sit-down conference to soak in a wealth of paper talks. It’s an interactive weekend that combines these talks with a host of workshops provided by the speakers themselves.

Last year’s TEI brought us projects like SPATA, digital calipers that sped up our CAD modeling by eliminating the need for a third hand, and TorqueScreen, a force-feedback mechanism for tablets and other handhelds.

Next February’s conference is no exception for new ways to interact with novel technology. To get a sense of what’s to come, here’s a quick peek into the past from last year’s projects:

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Brains Controlling Labyrinths Without Hands

March 17, 2015 by 10 Comments

[Daniel], [Gal] and [Maxim] attended a hackathon last weekend – Brainihack 2015 – that focused on neuroscience-themed builds in a day and a half long build off. The trio are communications systems engineering and computer science students with no background in neuroscience whatsoever. You can’t build an FMRI in a day and a half, so they ended up winning the best project in the open source category with a brain-controlled labyrinth game.

The labyrinth itself is entirely 3D printed and much, much simpler than the usual, ‘wooden maze with holes’ that’s generally associated with labyrinth puzzles. It’s really just a plastic spiral for a ball to follow. There’s a reason for this simplicity. The team is using EEG to detect brain waves and move the labyrinth on the X and Y axes.

The team is using OpenBCI for the interface between their brains and a pair of servos. This is actually an interesting piece of tech; unlike a few toys like the NeuroSky MindWave and the Star Wars Force Trainer, the OpenBCI gives you eight input channels that attach to anywhere on the scalp. The team used these inputs to measure Alpha waves and Steady State Visually Evoked Potential to control the pair of servos on the labyrinth frame.

It’s a great build, a wonderful demonstration of a device that outputs real EEG signals, and the team on a prize. What’s not to like?