but, teeth Brainwaves can be used to control devices, usually by applying electrodes and conductive gel to the head. But now scientists have developed a new and improved type of “dry” electrode that is being used for robot mind control.
One obvious problem with conductive gels is the fact that they leave users with a lot of gunk on their heads. This should be washed off. Additionally, some people’s skin may have an allergic reaction to the gel.
Dry electrodes that do not require gel do It is present, but tends to be flat and hard. This means they don’t conform well to the rounded contours of the head, and make contact with the skin difficult when hair gets in the way. I have.
To address these limitations, scientists at the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia set out to create an unprecedentedly flexible and sensitive dry electrode.
The researchers started with a sheet of silicon carbide film and etched small shapes such as squares, bars, dots and hexagons into its surface. The thin layer of film that made up the negative space surrounding these shapes was then removed, leaving the shapes protruding from the flexible substrate.
A layer of conducting graphene was then deposited on the surface of each shape. Finally, the film was cut into small squares consisting of 10-micrometer-thick shaped grids. These squares were the finished, dry, flexible electrodes.
An elastic headband containing eight electrodes was then placed on the volunteer’s head so that the electrodes were positioned below the posterior edge of the skull and above the visual cortex. When the person is then presented with various visual cues using an augmented reality headset, the electrodes determine which cues are being viewed by detecting the accompanying unique patterns of electrical activity in the brain. I made it.
A linked computer was able to match each of these patterns to a given command, which was used to successfully control a quadrupedal robot remotely. Electrodes incorporating a hexagonal shape performed best even when applied to hair. Wet electrodes were found to be slightly better, but the scientists say the study paved the way for a significant improvement in the performance of dry electrodes.
The study is described in a paper recently published in the journal ACS applied nanomaterials.
Source: American Chemical Society
