Introduction: Mind Control: Overview

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About: 55+ years in electronics, computers, and teaching ... now retired.

This instructable explains how I propose to control objects using thought.

I’m motivated because I read how a six-year-old girl lost both hands in a bus accident and thought “How would I cope without hands. There must be many others in a similar situation.”

I’m not an expert ... I’m just feeling my way. A lot of things must come together before I can get this to work. But before you can control anything you need something to control !!

I have already published two articles which, if coupled together, achieve my target but each have a downside:

My instructable https://www.instructables.com/id/Voice-Controlled... works but there is a significant delay between requesting an action and the hand responding.

My instructable https://www.instructables.com/id/Wink-Detector/ can also be used for control purposes:

  • close left hand: single left-wink.
  • open left hand: double left-wink.
  • close right hand: single right-wink.
  • open right hand: double right-wink.

The downside to a wink detector is that:

  • all actions are conscious
  • you must remember the commands
  • you quickly run out of winks

What is required is something that a wearer can use without conscious thought.

My next two articles describe:

  • how to build a low frequency FFT detector [1] for detecting specific brainwaves
  • how to build a 32-channel EEG monitor [2] for monitoring brainwaves over a period of time

Regardless of whether I can adapt these tools to my goal you will have a set of software that will be useful in others areas.

Watch this space ... the software has been written and tested.

Notes:

[1]

A fast fourier transform (FFT) is an algorithm that separates individual frequencies from a complex waveform.

[2]

An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a test used to evaluate the electrical activity in the brain

  Click here   to view my other instructables.