Inspiration
As engineering students, we often spend hours on end studying complex topics and solving a lot of problems. During these long studying sessions, stress and mental fatigue can build up without us realizing, making learning less effective and increasing the risk of burn out. This led to the creation of GoPet a BCI-powered study companion that tracks your stress levels so when you are stressed for too long it unlocks a relaxation game that allows students to relax and get back to studying effectively.
Stress looks different for everyone, so traditional timer-based break methods are not adaptable and can lead to distracting behaviors such as phone or social media usage.
What it does
GoPet uses EEG signals collected through an emotive insight headset that tracks a student's stress levels while studying. By analyzing these signals in real time, GoPet can recognize when the student is getting stressed for too long. When this occurs, GoPet unlocks a breathing exercise for the student to do. This allows students to relax and recharge so that they are able to maintain effective learning.
How we built it
We built GoPet using Emotive insight device to collect EEG data and monitor brain waves. The system processes stress levels from brain signals and uses them to determine when a student needs a break from studying. Using Python we coded an app that shows stress data from the Emotive Cortex API and watches for sustained high stress. When is it detects student is stressed for too long GoPet pauses study timer and a breathing mini game pops up to help student relax before they continue studying.
Challenges we ran into
One of the biggest challenges was trying to set up the EEG machine, we had a lot of trouble getting the electrodes to have a strong connection so that we are able to have strong brain signals. Since the signal was weak collecting the data and categorizing it was difficult as we had many error pop ups.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are proud that we were still able to get a decent prototype in that is able to read stress levels and after a certain amount of time of constant stress it was able to switch over to the breathing exercises allowing for the student to relax and get back to studying with a clearer mind.
What we learned
Through this project we gained hand on experience with EEG technology and Brain Computer Interfaces, and seeing real time data analysis of the brain waves collected from the EEG technology.
What's next for GoPet
In the future, to have GoPet a-read focus levels and respond to those levels by unlocking a engaging game for students to play so that they are able to strengthen their engagement with the course material. We also want to improve the stress levels thresholds by using more data from other students and getting feedback to see if they actually felt more relaxed or not. Our long-term vision is to create a brain-aware study companion that helps students maximize productivity while protecting their mental well-being.
Built With
- bci
- emotive
- python
- vscode
