5 ms·

Whenever I read one of these articles/headlines, I wonder how/where can I get a device to measure brain activity. Some sort of fitbit for the brain (ideally wit

Whenever I read one of these articles/headlines, I wonder how/where can I get a device to measure brain activity. Some sort of fitbit for the brain (ideally with no connection to 'the cloud', of course).

arthurcolle 7y ago
OpenBCI sells kits. I personally wont buy until they get up to like 64/128 channels but they have decent 16/32 channel kits right now. They even started offering all-in-ones so you don't have to mess around with picking the wrong set of components to get up and running
- kodachi 7y ago
  Interesting, thanks for the tip. Have you tried one of those to decide not to buy them? The 'open' in their name is encouraging. How far are we to train some sort of assistant that executes commands based on brain activity patterns, e.g. instead of shouting '<assitant-name> turn off the music', just think it and have it executed?
  - PascLeRasc 7y ago
    I've used OpenBCI before, it's pretty good - noise filtering was the hardest part, which isn't really that bad of a problem to have. Here's a paper showing how to read eye movements with it: https://sci-hub.tw/10.1109/ICORR.2017.8009392 https://sci-hub.tw/10.1109/ICORR.2017.8009392 The Muse (https://choosemuse.com/ https://choosemuse.com/) is much more of a consumer-friendly device, and it was super easy to get working at a hackathon years ago, but it looks like they suspended access to their SDK.
    - fapjacks 7y ago
      No, don't buy anything from Muse. Those devices are awful and the firm works (worked?) hard to reduce visibility on the problems for example in their developer forums, instead of working to address the problems. I owned multiple device versions from the Kickstarter forward and they were all universally finicky and shit. The one redeeming feature were the (patented) sensor pads, which can work better than more "traditional" sensor pads. But they dry out and get gross pretty quickly, and also are easily damaged, and it felt like the Muse people really wanted deep down to be in the business of supplying people with fresh new sensor pads like -- badum-psh! -- some kind of subscription. Interestingly, I also used one from a maker event, and it definitely seemed like they had picked the cream of the crop in order to market them better. But the production units were terrible!
      - dr_dshiv 7y ago
        Can you confirm that you are bashing the right company? There is nothing on a Muse that I can imagine fits the description of a sensor pad that could wear out. I have two devices and they work fine -- but EEG is itself a major challenges and dry electrode even more so.b
        fapjacks 7y ago
        Oh jeez what the hell, you're right. I was thinking about Emotiv! Well it'd be nice if I could unfuck this situation, as I also got a Muse through Indiegogo and even though I gave it to a friend some years ago, it did what it said on the tin.
      - TrinaryWorksToo 7y ago
        The muse has a solid metal strip. Are you thinking of a different company?
        fapjacks 7y ago
        Yes, you're totally right, and I am totally wrong. I was thinking about my Emotiv headsets and not the Muse!
        TrinaryWorksToo 7y ago
        Yeah, I've written off using emotiv for anything because they keep all your data, and can do what they want for it, and rent it out to you. Muse, OpenBCI and OpenEEG all the way.
Animats 7y ago
The cutest device for this came from Neuroware in 2011 - neko cat ears connected to an EEG sensor. The system could pick up basic brain states - relaxed, attentive, startled - and moved the ears accordingly. I saw a group of cosplayers wearing these back then. Someone mentioned the name of one person in the group, and their ears went up. Watching someone play a video game showed them attentive while playing a level, and relaxed while the next level was loading. So, in a limited way, it worked. (Problems were 1) cost, about US$200, 2) fragile mechanical design, 3) too heavy 4) short battery life 5) ears too big. Someone ought to try this again.)

arthurcolle 7y ago

OpenBCI sells kits. I personally wont buy until they get up to like 64/128 channels but they have decent 16/32 channel kits right now. They even started offering all-in-ones so you don't have to mess around with picking the wrong set of components to get up and running

kodachi 7y ago
Interesting, thanks for the tip. Have you tried one of those to decide not to buy them? The 'open' in their name is encouraging. How far are we to train some sort of assistant that executes commands based on brain activity patterns, e.g. instead of shouting '<assitant-name> turn off the music', just think it and have it executed?
- PascLeRasc 7y ago
  I've used OpenBCI before, it's pretty good - noise filtering was the hardest part, which isn't really that bad of a problem to have. Here's a paper showing how to read eye movements with it: https://sci-hub.tw/10.1109/ICORR.2017.8009392 https://sci-hub.tw/10.1109/ICORR.2017.8009392 The Muse (https://choosemuse.com/ https://choosemuse.com/) is much more of a consumer-friendly device, and it was super easy to get working at a hackathon years ago, but it looks like they suspended access to their SDK.
  - fapjacks 7y ago
    No, don't buy anything from Muse. Those devices are awful and the firm works (worked?) hard to reduce visibility on the problems for example in their developer forums, instead of working to address the problems. I owned multiple device versions from the Kickstarter forward and they were all universally finicky and shit. The one redeeming feature were the (patented) sensor pads, which can work better than more "traditional" sensor pads. But they dry out and get gross pretty quickly, and also are easily damaged, and it felt like the Muse people really wanted deep down to be in the business of supplying people with fresh new sensor pads like -- badum-psh! -- some kind of subscription. Interestingly, I also used one from a maker event, and it definitely seemed like they had picked the cream of the crop in order to market them better. But the production units were terrible!
    - dr_dshiv 7y ago
      Can you confirm that you are bashing the right company? There is nothing on a Muse that I can imagine fits the description of a sensor pad that could wear out. I have two devices and they work fine -- but EEG is itself a major challenges and dry electrode even more so.b
      - fapjacks 7y ago
        Oh jeez what the hell, you're right. I was thinking about Emotiv! Well it'd be nice if I could unfuck this situation, as I also got a Muse through Indiegogo and even though I gave it to a friend some years ago, it did what it said on the tin.
    - TrinaryWorksToo 7y ago
      The muse has a solid metal strip. Are you thinking of a different company?
      - fapjacks 7y ago
        Yes, you're totally right, and I am totally wrong. I was thinking about my Emotiv headsets and not the Muse!
        TrinaryWorksToo 7y ago
        Yeah, I've written off using emotiv for anything because they keep all your data, and can do what they want for it, and rent it out to you. Muse, OpenBCI and OpenEEG all the way.

Animats 7y ago

The cutest device for this came from Neuroware in 2011 - neko cat ears connected to an EEG sensor. The system could pick up basic brain states - relaxed, attentive, startled - and moved the ears accordingly. I saw a group of cosplayers wearing these back then. Someone mentioned the name of one person in the group, and their ears went up. Watching someone play a video game showed them attentive while playing a level, and relaxed while the next level was loading. So, in a limited way, it worked. (Problems were 1) cost, about US$200, 2) fragile mechanical design, 3) too heavy 4) short battery life 5) ears too big. Someone ought to try this again.)