Pour beer by thought

This is “NeuroCrane”: with the help of a neural interface, you control the process of bottling drinks with the power of thought.

To get a drink - you need to focus your attention. At excess of concentration above the programmed level - the crane opens.
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And this is a safe, opened by the power of thought in the quest in reality, "Cyberpunk." There are four valves, each with its own level of complexity. The first can be opened without concentrating almost, and the last is already a challenge for the skill of concentration.

Both devices can be tested in St. Petersburg: NeuroKran - in the FabLab of the Polytechnic University, and safe - in Lostroom , on Nevsky Prospect, 61.



These devices were made on the basis of Neurosky MindWave by the NeuroLab team, which in 2013 began developing applications for mobile non-invasive brain-computer interfaces (brain-computer interface, BCI).

Both devices are essentially a neurotrener in the form of a game: with the regularity of classes, the increasing complexity of tasks (pouring a full glass for 60, 50, 40 seconds ...), visualization on the indicator of the magnitude of brain activity - the effect of biological feedback appears.



Many different people at various events like Science Slam tried themselves with NeuroCrane. Often the question arises: what should be presented for concentration? Someone help motor images, someone solving problems. But with the guys from Kazan born version of the reading in the Tatar language. Indeed, the brain is surprised and focused.



In the same place, in Kazan, there was such an episode. The guy came up and began to try to pour a glass of drink for himself, it turned out from the tenth attempt and quite a bit. And another one came next, quickly settled in and began to set and hold the value of the amplitude of the EEG-wave given by him. The first asked a natural question: why such a difference in the results? The second one explained that he works as a rehabilitation physician and, by the nature of his work, he constantly has to deal with different patients and non-trivial tasks (the first guy's profession turned out to be construction).

Indeed, in the scientific literature there are many descriptions, that the ability to arbitrarily control the parameters of the activity of one’s own brain is a trained property, and the effectiveness of management is determined by individual characteristics, first of all, by the ability to concentrate. And, of course, we must not forget about the balance of the nervous processes, which has a significant impact on the effectiveness of EEG training.

PS Lostroom plans to apply technology in the field of quests and beyond, but more on that next time.