Interfaces of the Future
Controlling Lights using a Kinect
Controlling Lights by Thinking
Internet of Things and Mind Control
Description
As a part of my independent study, I am creating Natural User Interfaces with non-traditional input devices which can create exciting experience when combined with the Internet of Things.
My experiments are about connecting the household electric objects such as light to the internet and then controlling them using arduinos, kinect, physical switches and Brain Computer Interface device such as the NeuroSky Mindwave BCI headset.
The lamp is connected to an arduino which is connected to the internet. The signals are then sent to the arduino over the internet to turn the lights on or off. The kinect, or the BCI headset become the front end input devices.
These are just experiments which I will continue to work on as a part of my hobby. Right now these interfaces which real people would like to use, but the reason I am doing it is to make it usable for people in the wild.
I dream that these interface can be used by people with disability and create joy and excitement in their life with Jedi like controls. More videos coming soon..!!!
Design Considerations and Lessons Learned
Even if this looks fun and intuitive, this is far from being used in an actual house.
The Brain Computer Interface is based heavily on training and works only on specific focussing and blinking of eyes, not by thinking of specific commands.
Note to self: Make it usable, useful, and Desirable
My Contribution
Created 12 functional prototypes using the Arduino, the Microsoft Kinect sensor , NeuroSky Mindwave headset, and Processing, did user testing in the wild to find reasons of failure, and then iterated on the next interfaces. This is an ongoing project and more videos will come soon