Brain control embedded system applications

• Main Author: Tan, Mitchell Jia Jun
• Other Authors: Dusit Niyato
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Computer science and engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/75557
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Electroencephalography (EEG) was originally used for medical purposes by examining the brain’s electrical activity. However over the recent years, companies like Neurosky, Interaxon and Emotiv have been introducing their own commercial EEG headsets, allowing the general public to easily obtain their own EEG headset at a reasonable price of about less than US$1000. EEG headset are now more widely available and further developed to be used for other purposes, for instance to act as a brain-computer interface (BCI). One such example is as a gaming controller. For this project, the objective is to make use of user’s brain EEG signals to control household appliances. The project makes use of the Emotiv Insight, an entry level EEG headset to capture the EEG signals from the user’s brain. The headset will be connected wirelessly to a computer which is running the Universe Remote-Control application that I created. The application will process the signals from the headset to identify the mental commands triggered by the user’s mind and carry out the follow up actions as preconfigured by the user. With that, the user will be able to control different household appliances without requiring any physical movement but just by just picturing different thoughts in their mind. The system will be able to interact with the household appliances in 3 different ways, relay switches, IR LED and by using online service If This Then That (IFTTT). The relay switch is used for controlling simple electrical appliance such as a lamp or a fan by toggling the switch. The IR LED will be able to simulate as an IR remote control to send IR pulse signals to control electrical appliances with IR receiver such as a television set. The online service, IFTTT can be used to communicate to the Internet of Things (IoT) products around the house through Internet connection. For the system to make use of the relay switches and the IR LED, the Raspberry Pi is used to output using its GPIO pins. The Raspberry Pi will be connected to the computer via Bluetooth and listen for commands from the Universal Remote-Control application and execute accordingly. Together, the system will allow the user to control most electrical appliances using his/her mind which is useful for the elderly people or the disabled to reduce the need for them to move about at home.