Brain Hackathons are brainstorming and collaborative marathons designed to rapidly produce working prototypes. At 2018 UIST School, BR41N.IO brings developers, technologists, engineers, students, artists, and scientists together in teams of 5 participants each over 2 days to cram and build solutions that they can present. Hence, the Hackathon provides an environment for innovation and entrepreneurship. By putting creative minds from multiple disciplines together for a short period of time, we have the opportunity to discover and uncover possibilities for using BCI-related hardware and software not readily thought of. Hacks and innovation developed from the BR41N.IO Hackathon have great potential for commercialization and are designed to be a learning experience for everyone.
There are several predefined projects at the hackathon, which the participants can choose to work on. Below, the projects are described in detail including hard- and software specifications as well as the number of possible participants for each project. Motor imagery and EP based systems are mostly used to control the applications. Specific hardware for the projects will be provided, however, software should already be installed on your personal laptop before you come to the hackathon. If you would like to attend the hackathon, you must register for ACM Symposium.
Read more about UIST School program: 2018 UIST School: 31th ACM Symposium
Anyone can participate who has interests in BMI, BCI, robotics, AR, VR, machine learning, computing, sensors, human-machine interface systems, control, signal processing, big data, haptics, rehabilitation, and similar areas. One does not have to be a BMI expert to participate on a team! Interdisciplinary teams with a combination of BMI and non-BMI skills are often successful in building solutions and producing working prototypes.
Professional teams can also participate to develop applications during the Hackathon to demonstrate full potential of some of the sponsored hardware/software. If you are looking for team members, your project will be included in the table plan below where people can apply for it. Submit your project to contact@br41n.io.
Be creative, think outside the box. The Hackathon is fun and gets you to network and collaborate with other Geeks. The best Hackathon projects will be awarded with cash prizes:
* Travel budget + 1 free registration and acceptance to present hackathon results during the poster session at the IEEE Brain Initiative Workshop on Advanced NeuroTechnologies on November 1-2, 2018 in San Diego, USA
Address: Hasso-Plattner Institut, Prof. Dr. Helmertstrasse 2-3, 14482 Potsdam
Room: H-2.57 and H-2.58
10:00–10:30 | Welcome |
10:30–11:00 |
Current and future applications of |
11:00–11:30 |
How to run a real-time BCI application |
11:30–12:00 | Unicorn demo Armin Schnürer, g.tec neurotechnology, Austria |
12:00–13:00 | Hacker groups and mentoring |
13:00 | START: BR41N.IO HACKATHON |
10:00–10:45 | The physiological basis for BCIs Lewis Chuang, University of Munich |
13:00 | END: BR41N.IO HACKATHON |
13:00–14:00 | Preparation Project presentations |
14:00–15:00 | Project presentations |
15:00–15:30 | Meeting Hackathon Jury |
15:30–16:00 | BR41N.IO Ceremony |
19:00 | Hackathon project demos at UIST opening reception |
Brain-computer interfaces are realized by 4 different principles:
In the BR41N.IO Hackathon Series, motor imagery and EP based systems
are mostly used to control the applications:
In the case of the motor imagery application, participants have to imagine e.g. left or right hand movement to produce an event-related desynchronization over the sensorimotor cortex. This is basically an amplitude change of the alpha and beta regions of the EEG.
In the case of EPs, the BCI system is showing different flashing icons and the user has to attend to the icon he wants to select. When the icon flashes on the computer screen, than a P300 wave is produced in the brain and the BCI system is able to detect it.
The unicorn is supported by the P300 based spelling application intendiX. It is possible to control home devices such as lamps, radios or television. Watch the intendiX/extendiX Smart Home video.
soft-/hardware specifications: unicorn, everyday objects (bring your own objects)
participants: 1-2 groups, 5-7 people per group
skills: Basic programming skills (Matlab, Simulink)
It is possible to create a brain-controlled unity game.
soft-/hardware specifications: Unicorn
participants: 1-2 groups, 5-7 people per group
Skills: Basic programming skills (Matlab, Simulink), Basic graphics programming with Unity
The unicorn is supported by the P300 based spelling application intendiX. It is possible to controll a robotic ball called Sphero with intendiX. Watch the Sphero Control video.
soft-/hardware specifications: unicorn, Sphero
participants: 1-2 groups, 5-7 people per group
skills: Basic programming skills (C#)
A player will interact wit a live bacterial mix (the kind found in yogurt) to save it from dying due to interactions with small voltages also triggered by brain activity. Read more: O.D.E. to Länadk
soft-/hardware specifications: unicorn
participants: 1 group, 5-7 people per group
skills: Basic programming skills
To use the dream painting app, the user is wearing an unicorn headset while sleeping. When he wakes up, he will get an image created according to his EEG signals.
soft-/hardware specifications: g.USBamp
participants: 1-2 groups, 5-7 people per group
skills: Basic programming skills (Matlab, Simulink)
Team "Fantastic Four"
This team used the P300 speller interface to control a robot for painting for disabled people to cooperate with healthy users and create pictorial art together.
Team members: Juan Villamizar, Carlos Tejada, Yi-Chi Liao, Aurelien Appriou
Team "DreamTeam"
Brainwaves of one subject are analyzed and audio feedback was sent to the second subject. The mind of the second subject was translated into visual feedback and sent back to subject one.
Team members: Teresa Hirzle, Evgeny Stemasov, Evangelia Boufurdea, Svetlana Shiskkovets, Xiyue Wang, Passat ElAgnoudy, Siddharth Mehrotra
Team "TNT"
This team improved the classical “Tetris” experience by adding the BCI component. Using a P300 speller one subject could influence the type and rotation of the pieces, then the second subject had to use and place.
Team members: Thomas Dreja, Bruno Fruchard, David Porfirio, Marc Teyssier, Juan Restrepo
Team "BrainShare"
The team used a P300 BCI to send commands to a Microsoft HoloLens. The “mobile” user shared views with the “stationary” user, while the stationary user gave commands to the mobile user.
Team members: Vincent Rouanne, Gabriel Haas, Liliana Barrios, Sarah Faltaous, Han Joo Chae, Sebastian Rauh, Andreas Seiderer, Keigo Matsumoto, Richard Meinsen