Virtual Reality Application

Hand-to-hand communication project covers two major technologies: decoding the EMG signals and encoding the TENS signals. Each technology has it's wide applications. Here shows a recent application in virtual reality (VR). Please see the YouTube video or read the article.

Progress Report: 11/22/15

A problem we were having was with getting the Arduino application on the computer to show the serial monitor. After a bit of trial and error, we got the monitor to load, so now we can have numerical data to use in deciphering different EMG signals. Because we have data in the form of numbers for the strength of the EMG signal, and the intervals in which the data comes, we can visualize the data, putting it into excel and creating graphs. We also found on the Backyard Brains website a pack of 100 electrodes, since we are running out of the electrodes that came with the Muscle SpikerShield Bundle.

We will need to learn how to filter out extra noise gathered from the SpikerShield. To do this we have to learn stuff about Arduino coding. We still are having trouble in gathering data, because the lights that light up on the SpikerShield seem to be inconsistent, and the electrodes also eventually lose functionality.

Our plan for the next week is to look at examples of Arduino code and gain an understanding of how we can approach filtering out noise from the signals that we gather. We also are going to work on getting real data from the SpikerShield. We are also going to look at the other patents on the subject for the patent project.

Progress Report: 11/15/15

We analyzed out SpikerShield box. We ran a test on the SpikerShield box and tried to figure how different moments affected the light popping up on the box (The light indicated muscle activity). We looked at the Arduino code and adjusted it a little bit.

Here you can see the lights are lit up due to his movement.

We had trouble accessing the monitor that showed our data (muscle movement) on Arduino so we had to troubleshoot and also MatLab is still not working on the computer. We might have to find a different software or spend more time on just MatLab. However, we decided to wait to work with MatLab since we need to focus on acquiring a signal.

The plan is to figure out how to display the monitor that acquires our data through Arduino. We also want to find more electrodes that we can use as our electrodes are not reusable and don't last very long.

Progress Report: 11/8/15

As far as accomplishments, we finally got the Backyard Brains Muscle SpikerShield bundle. We have been researching and examining the equipment, looking at the materials online regarding the SpikerShield. There are different experiments that they have to try out and we have been reading through them. We have also worked on installing Matlab, and have found a download that will help us to install the software and get started with Matlab. We also downloaded the software for the SpikeRecorder software from Backyard Brains, and tried to get it to function with the SpikerShield.

Some problems we faced were in installing Matlab. Due to the way the software uses the internet and the various firewalls and blocked websites that exist in the school, it is very hard to install the software. We also encountered problems with the Backyard Brains app. We plugged the SpikerShield into the computer and tried to find a way to get the app to switch from the computer microphone to the SpikerShield itself. We have been unsuccessful in it so far.

We plan to find a work around for Matlab this week, and also perform the first actual test with the SpikerShield at home on Wednesday. Because we want to minimize noise and perform the test in a controlled environment.

Progress Report: 11/1/15

We were able to accomplish one of the most important parts of our project this week. We were able to do all of the final product research on finding the right equipment (Backyard brains) for what we are trying to accomplish with our project. We placed the order this week and we should receive the product sometime next week. We also looked into whether or not we could use the Uno board - Leonardo instead of the Uno and it turns out that we could so we are currently working on that.

We tried to figure out Matlab by downloading the actual program onto our computer but we were having trouble setting up the program on the computer and Matlab seems to think it is a proxy error so we have to look into it and/or contact MatLab

Our plan for next week includes trouble shooting MatLab, trying out the equipment assuming it is delivered and also looking more into the program for the Arduino board.