Build a robot that responds to electrical activity in your brain--it's easy and fun. If you're familiar with Arduino and have basic mechanical building skills, this book will show you how to construct a robot that plays sounds, blinks lights, and reacts to signals from an affordable electroencephalography (EEG) headband. Concentrate and the robot will move. Focus more and it will go faster. Let your mind wander and the robot will slow down.

The level of attention controls the speed of the robot. Steering (left and right) is controlled with automatic line avoidance.

You'll find complete instructions for building a simple robot chassis with servos, wheels, sensors, LEDs, and a speaker. You also get the code to program the Arduino microcontroller to receive wireless signals from the EEG. Your robot will astound anyone who wears the EEG headband.

This book will help you:

• Connect an inexpensive EEG device to Arduino
• Build a robot platform on wheels
• Calculate a percentage value from a potentiometer reading
• Mix colors with an RGB LED
• Play tones with a piezo speaker
• Write a program that makes the robot avoid boundaries
• Create simple movement routines

Reader reviews

(Reviews from Amazon.com)

"This is an excellent book that has helped a number of my students work on neurocomputing controls using the Arduino microcontroller and an inexpensive single-sensor Neurosky EEG headset."
K Hausman

"absolutely tops! I am a total 'newbie' to electronics - this was exactly what I wanted to learn, and they taught it!"
Helene Tomlinson

"For a bright 12-year-old (with a little adult participation) on up, this is one of the best ways to get into robotics."
Rick Cook

About the authors

Kimmo Karvinen works as a CEO in leading company specialized in AV automation in Finland. Before that he has worked as CTO in hardware manufacturer that specializes in smart building technology, marketing communications project leader and as a creative director and partner in advertisement agency. Kimmo's education includes a Masters of Art.

Tero Karvinen teaches Linux and embedded systems in Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, where his work has also included curriculum development and research in wireless networking. He previously worked as a CEO of a small advertisement agency. Tero's education includes a Masters of Science in Economics.

Get the codes

Source code for the Mind Controlled Arduino Robot: mindcontrol-code.zip