Using the Emotiv EPOC

Summarized thoughts on the Emotiv EPOC: 

"Wow wow super cool"

The EPOC had 2 reference sensors and 16 sensors that had to be hydrated before use. Once the sensors were hydrated and placed into the headset, we tried the headset out on AJ. The sensors had to be hydrated again since there was not enough saline solution the first time. The wireless signal according to the control panel was strong, although the user has to sit fairly close to the USB Dongle. After a bit of wiggling around of the sensors, we were able to get a good connection where nearly all of the sensors had a "green" (the best) connection. 

We started with training the EPOC to recognize facial expressions. 

The control panel had a little robot which would mimick your facial expressions as it recognized them. Among the facial expressions were laugh, smile, smirk (right and left), brow furrow, eyebrow raise, and blink. 

We next worked on Cognitiv training. We began by training Push. For training, the user has to concentrate on thinking of the command consistently for 8 seconds. After training is over, the user is prompted to either accept the training or discard it. It probably would have been better to first train neutral until the skill level for neutral was very high. On the other hand, we tried to add to many commands too quickly and began adding pull and left and right before the first commands were mastered, making controlling the block much more difficult. The more commands that have been added, the harder it is for the control panel to recognize each command. 

We also took a look at the Affectiv suite, which showed us our emotions during the training. It was interesting to see the places where we were frustrated, and the ones where we had a burst of excitement. 

After a couple days of playing around with the EPOC, we discovered a couple of things:

• The control panel crashes after about 800 seconds of run time when used on Linux, but not on Windows
• Training without using the animation helps the user realize whether or not the training was successful so that they can make a smart decision on whether or not to keep the training. When the animation is turned on, it is impossible to tell whether or not the block's movement was due to the user or the animation. If the block does not successfully complete the command that is being focused on during training, the user could/should choose to discard the training. 
• Visualizing the command that is being trained helps the control panel understand the user's intentions. 
• Thinking of a specific word like "nothing" and staring at a solid color such as the white background of a window helped me master "neutral."