Attention driven game with brain-computer interface

• Main Author: Sun, Shengjie
• Other Authors: Vinod Achutavarrier Prasad
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering::Control and instrumentation
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/59058
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

From physical keyboard to touch keyboard, from mouse to touch pad, and the many latest wearable controllers, people are looking for different ways to interact with computers for years. Researches have been done on Electroencephalogram (EEG) based technology, and used it in neurofeedback games and brain-computer interface. Although the brain-computer interface still can’t provide a smooth control as keyboard or joystick to games on market like call of duty, need for speed etc. Such technologies could also be used in simple entertainment and medical applications. In this report, I will review on possible EEG activities associated with concentration level indication, signal processing process, as well as a concentration driven game design and implementation. In this project, I am using Emotiv EEG head set to acquire brain wave signals. And the graphical user interface is developed in C# as windows forms applications. By accessing the raw data and digital signal processing, I will decide the concentration level of the user according to theta and beta brain activities. The threshold level of deciding concentration level is through experiments of five subjects. By collecting data for concentration and relation state, I conduct some statistical analysis to divide concentrations to three levels. The game developed is a simple pushing ball game. The goal is to defeat the rival by pushing the ball to the rival’s side using mind power. The power is defined from player’s concentration level. After implementation of the game and experiments with human playing the game, it shows that after playing and training with this game will gain a better control of concentration. This kind of game is not only suitable for entertainment, but also useful in ADHD treatments. Moreover, this game can also be used for two players to battle against each other with two headsets. However, there will are some limitations that can be improved. First is that the game has only three levels of concentration, which limits players’ power to certain level. Secondly, the data collected was from only five subjects, which may lead to imprecise conclusion of deciding threshold level.