Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - September/October 2015 - (Page 10)

two summers Ago, i sAw A video clip of A quAdriplegic womAn who, using her brAinwAves, controlled A robotic Arm to pick up A thermos of coffee And drink from it-without humAn AssistAnce. this wAs A remArkAble moment for the womAn, who hAdn't been Able to perform such tAsks since suffering A stroke 15 yeArs eArlier. As i wAtched, cheering for her, i knew i wAnted to be pArt of A teAm responsible for producing such life-Altering technologies. I n elementary school, I had built a few robots in an after-school club, and in middle school, I founded a VEX Robotics team. But after three years of building robots, I was ready for more. So, after having been exposed to some of the fascinating mysteries of the human brain through a school biology course, I decided to conduct research at the intersection of robotics and neuroscience. To facilitate my research, I spent the summer before junior year taking an online course on brain-computer interfaces and building a conceptual framework for my project. Plan of Action Early in the academic year, my school established a lab for underclassmen interested in pursuing independent research projects. I submitted an application and was granted space in the lab and offered mentorship by its director, Dr. Dan Burden. My overarching goal was to build a humanoid robot and control it using my brainwaves. Previous work in this area had led to the quadriplegic woman's ability to control a robot using her brainwaves; I wanted to expand on this by developing a method that allowed the use of brain signals to actually program the robot to perform new tasks. The work entailed four key objectives: First, I had to find a way to record the user's brainwaves. Next, to interpret the user's intentions, I had to design an algorithm to process and classify these brain signals. I then needed a method to map the user's intentions into a set of machine instructions to be executed by 10 imagine the robot. Finally, I would have to build the robot and program it to perform the instructions. Tools and Techniques I first determined that the user would wear an electroencephalography (EEG) headset fitted with electrodes that would record brainwaves from the scalp. Deciphering the meaning of brainwave signals and translating them into intentions was more challenging. Did a particular EEG signal segment mean the user wanted to raise her left hand or her right? To grab the book from the shelf, or put it on the table? Trying to interpret someone's intent by looking at all the brainwaves related to the many muscles involved would be enormously complex. I decided to simplify the process by having the user-in this case, me-consciously communicate their intent to perform an action by clenching their jaw. The jaw clenching could be varied in duration, creating a sort of Morse code performed using facial muscles. Instead of trying to analyze what all the EEG activity meant, the software I wrote needed only to detect the occurrence and duration of each jaw-clenching episode. Next, I created an algorithm that defined what each jaw-clenching signal meant in terms of commands for the robot. Some commands are relatively simple (like "grasp"), while others involve a sequence of actions (like "pour from a grasped cup"). Simple commands can be executed sequentially to perform more complex actions. Sept/Oct 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - September/October 2015

Circuit Training Electrical Engineering at CTY
Turning Brainwaves into Action Meet ARTIE, the robot activated by thoughts
Robotics in the Real World How robots are helping us explore space, overcome disability, and so much more
My First FIRST The climbing robot that taught me to aim high
Adventures in Botball
So Much Fun, It’s Inhuman Destroying the competition in combat robotics
Born to Build The making of an engineer
The Engineering Summer Academy at Penn Three weeks that launched my future
Music in the Woods Six weeks at Tanglewood
Big Picture
In My Own Words Daniel H. Wilson, author of Robopocalypse and Robogenesis
Selected Opportunities and Resources
Off the Shelf Review of Obert Sky’s Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options Interview with NASA robotics engineer Jaakko Karras
One Step Ahead Be fearless
Planning Ahead for College Express lessons in financial aid
Students Review Dartmouth College
Creative Minds Imagine Poetry contest winners
Mark Your Calendar
Knossos Games

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - September/October 2015