THE CHALLENGE
MY ROLE
THE GOAL
People with ALS maintains their cognitive ability but lose the ability to control their muscles: they can think but not communicate. Brain-Computer Interfaces, or BCIs, offers these patients a way to communicate with the outside world by detecting only their brain function. Our project, BrainBraille, is one of these communication systems
Here’s how it works:
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A patient goes under a brain scanner, like an fMRI.
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When the patient experiences the neurological intent to move a particular region of the body, the scanner can identify the relevant muscle region by analyzing brain patterns.
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BrainBraille monitors six regions of the body, representing the six dots of the Braille alphabet.
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By activating a combination of these muscle regions, a patient can spell out letters and entire words.
Team of 4 students
Working with GT Faculty: Thad Starner
January 2020 - May 2020
Scope
UX Designer
Hardware Developer
My contribution to BrainBraille involves the development of a Passive Haptic Learning, or PHL, interface which would make it easier for patients to learn the BrainBraille alphabet.
My objective is to create an array of wearable, vibrating motors which attach to the six BrainBraille muscle regions and then create synchronized patterns of vibration for each letter.
The PHL interface would allow patients to learn the BrainBraille alphabet through muscle memory alone, reducing the cognitive effort and length of the learning process