Puzzlebox has released an update to "Puzzlebox Brainstorms" which allows for BCI (Brain-Computer Interface) control of robotic vehicles, radio controlled helicopters, and wheelchairs through commercially available consumer EEG headsets such as the NeuroSky MindSet and Emotiv EPOC.

Features include:

- Support for radio controlled helicopters which support the Spektrum DSM2 protocol
- Support for electric wheelchair control for the Action Arrow Storm series
- Custom messages can be sent to LEGO Mindstorms to interface with programs written using "NXT-G" the standard development environment supplied by LEGO.
- Ability to send bug reports and feature requests directly to Puzzlebox via interface
- New tab-based interface for new vehicle and device support



Puzzlebox Brainstorms 0.4.5 - LEGO Mindstorms


Puzzlebox Brainstorms 0.4.5 - RC Helicopter


Puzzlebox Brainstorms 0.4.5 - Wheelchair


Puzzlebox Brainstorms 0.4.5 - Control Panel

The Thinking Caps, the First LEGO League competitors from the Blue Ridge area of Virginia were recently featured on a live broadcast by their local television station for their success in competition and use of Puzzlebox Brainstorms:



We are told that some technical difficulties were experienced due to their laptop going to sleep, but we're not taking any chances -- the next version of Puzzlebox Brainstorms includes a new, built-in bug reporting and feature-request mechanism. In the meantime please help out our community by submitting any issues to contact@puzzlebox.info.

Puzzlebox has released an update to "Puzzlebox Synapse" which connects to commercially available consumer EEG headsets such as the NeuroSky MindSet, displays live data back to the user, and relays the data collected over a network or the internet.

Features include:

- Save all data recorded for a given session (including raw EEG) to a file for external processing
- Export all data recorded for a given session to CSV for loading into a spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel or OpenOffice.org Calc
- Export all data recorded for a given session to a text file

The First LEGO League (FLL) is a "robotics program for 9 to 16 year olds, which is designed to get children excited about science and technology -- and teach them valuable employment and life skills." Teams of children led by teachers, parents and mentors build robotic machines based around themes and goals which change on a yearly basis, competing at an international level.

One team based in Virgina called the Thinking Caps has produced a terrific video submission for this year's "Body Forward" theme of biomedical engineering using Puzzlebox Brainstorms and a NeuroSky MindSet EEG headset.



We love to see great projects like this and wish the Thinking Caps the best of luck in their upcoming competition!

In September 2010 Puzzlebox visited The Rosemont School located near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Two classes of sixth graders were given presentations on Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) technology followed by an on-hands session with Puzzlebox Brainstorms and Synapse. Every student was successfully able to drive a LEGO Mindstorms robot using a NeuroSky MindSet EEG headset which measured their levels of concentration and relaxation.


Puzzlebox Brainstorms @ The Rosemont School

A brief write is available on the Rosemont website here.

Puzzlebox would like to give special thanks to all of the great faculty and staff who helped out, and of course the students and their parents who gave permission for their children to be shown in the demonstration video.

Puzzlebox has released an update to "Puzzlebox Synapse" which connects to commercially available consumer EEG headsets such as the NeuroSky MindSet, displays live data back to the user, and relays the data collected over a network or the internet.

Features include:

- Live graphing of raw EEG signals using matplotlib
- Realtime plotting of EEG brain signals by spectrum
- 30 second visual history of Attention and Meditation levels

The Boreatton Scout Troop in the UK has posted images and video of the kids using the Puzzlebox Brainstorms software to control a simple LEGO Mindstorms robot using an Emotiv EEG headset.






Many thanks for sending this in and we look forward to seeing what you come up with next!

Puzzlebox in the classroom

The Puzzlebox Brainstorms project is actively seeking teachers, parents, and mentors to participate in the first round of case studies using the software for educational purposes in real world environments. One private primary education school in the US is already set to begin teaching Physics principles about wave theory to a classroom of 10 year olds this September, then use the software as part of student experiments. Interest has also been received from an overseas scout troop with LEGO Mindstorms experience, as well as numerous parents helping to foster scientific interest in EEG and robotics technology for science fairs and similar activities.

Our project seeks to aid such interested parties in whatever way we can to make the most of the educational experience as well as customize the software to better meet the goals of such endeavours. If you or someone you know would be interested to participate please do not hesitate to contact us.

Puzzlebox has released a new software application "Puzzlebox Synapse" which connects to commercially available consumer EEG headsets, displays live data back to the user, and relays the data collected over a network or the internet.

This release focuses on parsing live EEG data from the NeuroSky MindSet in realtime over Bluetooth and transmitting the data in the standard ThinkGear Connect JSON format. This release allows execution of software designed for NeuroSky's MindSet on any supported Operating System, including Linux.


Features include:

- Complete GUI interface written using the Qt Framework
- A NeuroSky MindSet emulator is built into the software to aid in software development
- A debug console displays the raw signal values back to the user
- A RPM package for installation under Linux distributions such as Fedora is included
- A self-installing Windows .exe package is included for current versions of Windows including XP, Vista, and Windows 7
- Implements the complete current ThinkGear Socket Protocol specification [2010-06-28 R2.1]

Puzzlebox has released an updated version of the "ThinkGear Emulator" which adds support for actually parsing live EEG data from the NeuroSky's MindSet in realtime over Bluetooth. This new feature allows execution of NeuroSky's MindSet software in a 100% Linux environment (including Puzzlebox Brainstorms).

The next version will include a complete GUI interface with live display updates for signal contact quality, EEG Brain Waves, and eSense detections and will be released under a new name as this software has grown beyond being only an emulator.


Features include:

- Now reads and parses ThinkGear packets directly from NeuroSky's MindSet EEG headset over Bluetooth
- Offers support for ThinkGear development under Linux
- Implements the complete current ThinkGear Socket Protocol specification [2010-06-28 R2.1]
- Complete rewrite using the Qt Framework
- Fixed Adobe SWF (Flash/Flex) Socket Policy File Request handling
- eSense multipliers added to configuration file to fine-tune signals during emulation
- Variable blink rate support added to emulation

Several readers have submitted this link to a TED Talk presented earlier this month.

In it, Tan Le from Emotiv demonstrates the Emotiv EPOC EEG headset.

Puzzlebox Brainstorms supports using this headset.

A major new release of Puzzlebox Brainstorms has been made available.


Puzzlebox Brainstorms - NeuroSky MindSet Demo (with annotations)

This release features:

- Ready for classroom use
- Complete rewrite using Qt Framework
- NeuroSky MindSet EEG hardware support
- Speed control tied to detected Concentration levels, with an additional boost granted for simultaneous high Relaxation levels
- Variable control duration allows robot to continue driving for as long as a detection occurs or as long as a button is held down in the user interface
- Visual style automatically adjusts and changes to match system theme
- Power voltage of LEGO Mindstorms NXT robot reported back to user interface in real-time
- Communications port for LEGO Mindstorms NXT robot can be modified at will by user without editing configuration text files





Documentation has been updated to reflect these changes.