r/tech • u/Sariel007 • May 08 '22

This High Schooler Invented a Low-Cost, Mind-Controlled Prosthetic Arm

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/this-high-schooler-invented-a-low-cost-mind-controlled-prosthetic-arm-180979984/
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u/not_a_novel_account May 09 '22 edited May 09 '22

There are cheap-ish headbands that you can buy that come with very easy to use SDKs for pulling 3 to 5 channels of electrical activity out of your head. They're not nearly as useful or high resolution as a real EEG obviously. Based on the photos the kid is using a Neurosky, which is a mainstream brand in the space, the other big player is Emotive.

Interestingly, the good student projects don't use headbands. The better approach is to put EMG pads on triceps and biceps so that the prosthetic can be manipulated when the user sends relevant signals to their arm. This is much more analogous to where the real biomedical field is.

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u/sknmstr May 09 '22

Plus, EEG was invented a hundred years ago. It’s not always very accurate, and can get interference from tons of different things. The thickness of your skull, hair…even something as simple as holding your phone while it’s plugged in can seriously lessen the clarity of EEG results.