SURVIVALIST AV: Hacking EEG detectors to make art

Once the domain of hardcore new age healers or lawnmower man impersonators, biofeedback technology has finally come into the availability and price point of the average consumer. As soon as that happens, hacking said consumer goods is not far off. “Brainwave detectors” can now be found in toys and other hackable products that can be used with MIDI and other protocols to control your favorite DJ or graphic design program. Some companies have gotten hip to mod culture and made open ended controllers, and yet more smug open-sourcers have been doing it for years. In this article and more to come, I will investigate low-cost, resourceful, or otherwise subversive ways of controlling sound and video.

EEG detectors measure electrical activity along your scalp to match certain types of electrical brain activity to “brainwave” states. Anyone familiar with the chemical-free high of the decade, binaural beats, will already be cosy with this concept. Most medical grade detectors can have as many as 19 inputs, where most retail models only go up to four or multiply several signals on one channel. Toys such as the Force Trainer and Mindball often detect muscle movements to make up the difference, which for the practical purposes of computer control, is actually a benefit. These devices are usually intended as meditation aids or gaming controllers, but as you can see the uses extend far beyond such practical applications…

Want to be your own brain wave siren like Lu Chi Psi Chic? “These aren’t the nerds you’re looking for.”

In fact they are. Milton Bros made the Force Trainer to allow the budding Jedi to push a ball up a tube via brainwave control over an air motor. Cannibalizing the headset unit, some enterprising folk coupled the EEG detector with an arduino board to turn the toy into a MIDI controller (peep the schematics via Hack-a-Day.)

If this looks a little too involved, have no fear. Several manufacturers have released stand-alone devices that are not much more expensive and offer some impressive degrees of control. Here is an example of how to control a lighting system with brainwaves

OCZ technology released their NIA (Neural Impulse Actuator) last year as a game controller. It has three inputs and conveniently maps onto a QWERTY keyboard. Neural Sky, is responsible for the guts of the Force Trainer, developed a headset that has an open source SDK. Perhaps the most attractive option for the those with some programming experience, this is a one input, wireless unit that has headphones attached to unit.

Saavy readers will note, that these are not fully fledged “brainwave detectors.” These units for the most part measure some amount of “bio-potential” across the skin, but to tap into actual brainwave control it takes a little more. For these options, one has to shell out a considerable sum of money. A good example is IBVA, which comes MIDI-ready controller via their proprietary software.

The narly looking EPOC by Emotiv features a full 14 inputs and sneaky info shows that it has just started shipping for “developers”.

Open source options like open EEG require experience with chips, but give the option of using whatever sensor, enclosure and inputs etc. one wishes. It might still be a little hardcore new-agey, but just close your eyes, open your ears and use your head. You may be surprised by the results.

Resources:
Glovepie – scripting platform for controlling Photoshop with MIDI. If you are a GIMP user, MIDI support is native in the latest release and takes about 5 minutes to set-up.
Multicontrol – converts HID (the protocol that lets mice, keyboards, and flight control simulators control your computer) into MIDI, for MAC. M-Joy does the same for Windows.

brainwaves controllers hacking lasers MIDI NeuroFunk survivalist AV Posted under Found by deraadt