---

---

+ Downloads & Extras:

+

Galvanic Skin Response Kit from Maker Shed

Our Galvanic Skin Response Kit includes everything you need to make the truth meter circuit featured in Make Volume 26. See what happens when someone asks you questions or when you laugh or get surprised. Everyone responds differently. See if you can turn the LED on with your mind. Try it on your friends, acquaintances, or adversaries. It’s a great way to get to know someone! We even included a few extra resistors so you can calibrate the circuit and experiment with different sensitivities. You can even hack it to get GSR data into your Arduino. Fun!
+ Arduino sketch CleanProgramBlueSMiRF.pde +

Make: Projects

For a more robust version of this tutorial, click HERE to visit the Make: Projects page!

+

+ MindSet Code Folder

(zip)

+ MindSetArduinoReader Code Folder

(zip)

+ MindSetArduinoViewer Code Folder

(zip)

+ MindSetBTViewer Code Folder

(zip)

+ MindSet Reader Viewer Install Instructions

(txt)

+

All parts needed to build the Truth Meter are available in kit form at:
http://makershed.com/GSR

+ Sean Montgomery's MindSet Resources

+ Brain Blinker Step 1: How To View MindSet Data Sent Directly via Bluetooth to a Computer Running Processing (includes MindSetBTViewer code)

https://github.com/produceconsumerobot/MindSetBTViewer

Note that many of the download and installation steps given here are repeated in the Brain Blinker Step 2 instructions linked below, in order to make each instruction set self-contained. You can skip any of the installs that you've already performed.

Brain Blinker Step 2: How To View MindSet Data Sent Through a BlueSMiRF Module and Arduino, Then via Serial Stream to a Computer Running Processing (includes CleanProgramBlueSMiRF, MindSetArduinoReader, and MindSetArduinoViewer code)

https://github.com/produceconsumerobot/MindSetArduino +

Biosensor Sources

Commercially available bio-sensors

Neurosky Mindset EEG Headgear
Wireless EEG headset, $200, 1 channel, SDK available As illustrated in this article, this headgear permits easy interface to computers and the Arduino and other microcontrollers.

XWave, Mind Interface for iPhone, $100

Emotiv EPOC EEG Headgear
Wireless EEG headset, $500-750, 14 channel, SDK features depend on price

OCZ Neural Impulse Actuator
Wired EEG headset, $150, 2 channel (+ref), no API/SDK

Biocontrol System
EEG/EKG systems, ~$500, software plugin for Max/MSP

Thought Technology Ltd.
High-end EEG, EKG systems

Intantech Biopotential Amplifier IC
Multiplexed EEG amplifier, 16 channels, $360

Biopac Systems Goleta California
Many products from EEG/EKG electrodes to eye trackers

Seeing Machines Facelab Eye Tracker
Commercial and free, non-commercial licenses available

Tobii Eye Tracking Equipment
High-end eye tracking equipment

Heart Rate Monitor Interfaces - Polar/NuMetrex http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8661
http://www.polarusa.com/us-en/products/accessories/WearLink_transmitter

Heart Rate Monitor Interfaces - Garmin/Suunto http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8565
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=10996 http://www.suuntowatches.com/Suunto-Coded-Heart-Rate-Belt.pro

Open Source and DIY biosensing resources

OpenEEG circuitry

Open source hardware EEG

Open source eye tracking software, Gaze Group
Significant progress has recently been made in tracking eye-movements. In the past year the cost of tracking eye-movement using corneal reflection has dropped from ~$30,000 to ~$5,000 and Gaze Group intends to bring that price tag into the hundreds of dollars range in the near future.

Opengazer
Open source code for eye tracking with a webcam

Facial EMG

Accelerometers for measuring body motion
DIY information:
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/ccg/resources/btacc/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actigraphy

Wiitilt
Wireless Accelerometer and gyro, $200

Stretch sensor for measuring respiration
http://www.robotshop.com/imagesco-14-flexible-stretch-2.html
http://www.robotstoreuk.com/SENSORS%2BVISION/MerlinStretchSensor/MerStretchSensor-2.htm
DIY information

Pulse oximeter finger probes
DIY information:
http://innovexpo.itee.uq.edu.au/2003/exhibits/s363328/thesis.pdf

http://suchamagicworld.blogspot.com/2008/04/still-alive-heartbeat-irsensor-report.html

Flex sensors

Pressure sensors

Temperature sensor Online data logging and analysis tools

Pachube

Noldus Observer

(and many others) Hackable bio-sensing toys and products

Mattel Mindflex Game
Hacking info

Zeo Personal Sleep Coach
EEG-based sleep monitor
Hacking info

Kinect for Xbox
Measures position of the body in 3D space and has been hacked for use with PCs/Macs/Linux

Wakemate Actigraphy
Accelerometer-based sleep analysis

Fitbit
Accelerometer-based activity/calorie monitor

BodyMedia Fit
Accelerometer and temperature based activity/calorie monitor

Bodybugg Armband Sensor Measures GSR/Heat Flux/Accerometer/Skin Temperature

Pulse Oximeters
Lots of commercially available pulseox sensors that may be hackable

Truth Wristband wearable GSR meter
Displays GSRs on RGB LEDs
DIY information +

Biosensor References

Kevin Kelly's Quantified Self resource links
Honest Signals: How They Shape Our World by Alex (Sandy) Pentland, MIT Press (2010) +

Article Credits

Authors note: We are grateful to several individuals and organizations that contributed products, money, labor, and ideas to making this article possible. In particular, we are especially grateful to:

1. NeuroSky, Inc. [http://www.neurosky.com/] for providing Mindset EEG Headgear and making substantial engineering contributions to the EEG/Arduino project.
2. Nathan Seidle, CEO of SparkFun Electronics [http://www.sparkfun.com] for a $100.00 gift certificate which we used for Arduino, a BlueSMiRF Gold module and assorted electronics.
3. Digi-Key Corporation [http://www.digikey.com] for the donation of a Beagleboard Embedded Linux Computer and considerable engineering support by Robert Nelson
4. Rob King (http://addi.tv) graciously contributed his MindSet Java library for parsing MindSet Bluetooth signals developed in collaboration with the Mobile Lab at Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD; http://mobilelab.ca/).
5. Brendan Schrader, Michael Hogan, and Jack Zylkin of the Hive 76 Hackerspace http://www.hive76.org/ contributed their time in research and electronics fabrication.
6. Ira Clavner provided advice on operational amplifier design for the processing of biosignals.