Alyssa Licudine | alyssal3 | ECE 110
Anthony Nepomuceno | anepom3 | ECE 120
James Timotiwu | jit2 | ECE 120
Proposal: EEG to IoT
By: Alyssa Licudine, Anthony Nepomuceno, James Timotiwu*
INTRODUCTION
Statement of Purpose:
The purpose of this project is to investigate the usages of electroencephalogram (EEG) sensors in simple applications within the internet of things (IoT) such as turning on a light bulb to other biomedical applications that create a better quality of life for people with disabilities, like quadriplegics.
Background Research:
EEG measures the electrical activity of neurons, providing real-time analysis of this activity in different areas of the brain. The electrical activity collected from the EEG sensors is quantified as voltage readings and can be represented with waves corresponding to the voltage fluctuations at a particular site. The frequency of these waves change as the state of your brain changes, and scientists have identified specific patterns that correlate to these different states. Delta waves, for example, are examined to determine the depth of sleep; beta waves become stronger as a subject plans or executes a physical movement.
More refined EEG systems used in research can be complicated and expensive to make, so we decided to hack a MindFlex toy to track our attention and meditation levels, for that is what the toy’s sensors are capable of tracking sufficiently. We are essentially creating a brain computer interface (BCI) system that allows powerful communication between users and systems.
DESIGN
Block Diagram (Draw.io):
System Overview:
We will begin by using affordable EEG systems. A Mindflex EEG Headset will be modified to have Bluetooth capabilities for portability purposes by installing an HC-06 Bluetooth module to its’ chipset/microcontroller. The HC-06 bluetooth module can wirelessly connect to any computer with bluetooth receiving capabilities, available in most laptops. The MindFlex EEG chipset converts typical EEG signal into a processed output that is much easier to work with. The chipset returns values from 0 to 100 for two different things they understand from your brain, Attention and Meditation. Based on this output, we intend to control a switch that could possibly turn on a lightbulb based on data received directly by a microcontroller such as an Arduino.
PARTS
Part Name | Quantity | Price | Link |
Mindflex Headsets | 2 | $19.95 | |
DSD TECH HC-06 Wireless Bluetooth Serial Transceiver Support Module Slave and Master Mode For Arduino + 4PIN DuPont Cable | 1 | $8.99 | |
Other Parts | Borrow from ECE Lab? | ||
AAA Batteries | 3 | ||
Small screwdriver | 1 | ||
Soldering iron w fine tip | 1 | ||
Lead free solder | 1 | ||
Electrical tape | 1 | ||
Computer with a bluetooth radio | 1 | ||
20 gauge solid core wires, spare (optional) | 1 | ||
Total Price ~ | $28.94 |
CHALLENGES
The mindflex headset may not provide the most precise or accurate data due to hardware and output limitations. Such output limitations may cause some difficulty in interpreting the signals from the mindflex headset. Analysis of signals therefore may be difficult at this stage of the project.
In addition, there lies an immediate learning curve in such skills as creating circuits implementing a bluetooth module. All in all, the the challenge lies in finding what exactly the headset outputs and how to interpret such data for such applications as turning on and off a light bulb.
REFERENCES
Brain computer interfacing: Applications and challenges
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1110866515000237
Progress in EEG-Based Brain Robot Interaction Systems
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/cin/2017/1742862/
Brain controlled robots
http://news.mit.edu/2017/brain-controlled-robots-0306/
The Open Source Neuro Tech Revolution
The Open Source Neuro Tech Revolution // OpenBCI Founder Q&A + Live Demo | Consciousness Hacking SF
Introduction to EEG
UMASSTTS: OpenBCI Tech Talk