Scott Mather is a 21-year-old Psychology Undergraduate with a passion for bridging the gap between mind and computer
SOMA: Bridging the Gap Between Mind and Computer Just prior to the recent summer holidays, Scott Mather fell in love. Or fell down a rabbit hole. However you want to put it, Scott was soon struggling to contain his enthusiasm for the developing field of braincomputer interfaces (BCI). Determined to map his own neural networks to computer commands, Scott wasn’t about to let the high cost of commercial BCIs get in his way. In late 2021 I became obsessed with the systems that allow for controlling computerised commands with different states of mind - brain computer interfaces (BCI). After discovering the field of BCI’s in late 2021 I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this technology to try it out. I really wanted to try mapping my own neural activity to computer commands through electroencephalography (EEG), the process of recording electrical activity of brain waves via electrodes placed on the scalp. I soon discovered the prices of commercial EEG BCIs were prohibitive. Sometimes reaching into the thousands, and the software to use these products was almost as expensive. This wasn’t about to stop me…
At my local electronics store I was able to purchase what I needed to build an EEG BCI for around $200. Due to the lack of information online about how to build a homemade EEG BCI, I first had to learn how to build sub processes of the EEG, such as how to access brainwaves, how to amplify and transmit the electrodes’ signal to a computer. Once the EEG was built, I took to my whiteboard and designed a code that allowed for my EEG to become an EEG BCI. The BCI code functions by mapping the brainwaves associated with concentration and relaxation to computer commands, therefore bridging the gap between brain and computer. I sent these commands to a simple video game that allowed for up and down controls of a helicopter. Although I’m thrilled with these results now, they did not come easily. At the beginning of the process, I had little knowledge about soldering, coding, and circuitry and had to learn as I went along. I think I spent at least 50 hours staring at a screen, trying to move a helicopter that either wouldn’t budge or would unintentionally fly off. Each time meant slightly tweaking the calibration, then trying again and this was just one
aspect of the testing stage! Even so, I wouldn’t have wanted to do anything else because I knew where it was all headed…By the end of the summer holidays I’d built a Bluetooth, battery powered, homemade EEG BCI and was able to direct the video game
Continues overleaf June 2022 Dircksey 15
