Development thread for new "directional awareness" induction technique/device

I haven't been active much on the DreamViews forum for a couple years now. This is mainly because I never was able to find a lucid-dream induction approach that worked for me, while also not disrupting my sleep. So while I could tolerate the sleep degradation for a while and get pretty good results (check my profile for the threads I started for several techniques/ideas), I'd eventually always stop the trial, because my sleep was impacted too much for me to continue it indefinitely.

Well, I'm still very interested in finding an induction approach that works well, while being sustainable. This evening I spent some time trying to think of new possibilities.

This is my current idea:
* In order to avoid impact on my sleep, the technique (contrary to most of my prior experiments) should try to focus on daytime training.
* As a software engineer, and someone who has recently gained an interest in DIY electronics projects, I'd like to use something like an Arduino or Raspberry Pi as part of the project.
* Device: The plan is to create a small device, with an Arduino as its micro-controller (probably an Arduino Nano 33 BLE), a rechargeable battery, and a vibration motor, all packaged together into a 3d-printed enclosure for component protection -- and with a set of physical buttons for interaction without needing to pick it up / look at a screen. (this, and battery life, is the main reason I'm avoiding the easier route of just using a second smartphone)
* Placement: Get several pairs of pants/shorts with a side-pocket that will fit the device nicely, so I can have it on me always without attracting too much attention.

So what will the device actually do?
1) The device will continually monitor the "direction" that my body is facing. Thankfully, magnetometers are very precise nowadays (as I've confirmed with my phone), so this step is not a problem. (in contrast, GPS is not quite consistent/precise enough here)
2) Whenever there's a "change in my direction", the device will add that delta to a tracked value, of how much I have changed directions since the value's last reset.
3) Once the "direction-change accumulator" exceeds a certain threshold, the device will start to gently vibrate; the strength will increase the more it exceeds this threshold.
4) Whenever it is in this "vibrate state", I can reset the accumulator-value by correctly inputting the direction (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW) that I am facing, using a set of 8 buttons on its side. (the device will likely have some tolerance for inaccuracy of my guessed facing-direction)
5) While theoretically I could just "press all 8 direction buttons" whenever it starts vibrating (to reset the accumulator-value), I will try very hard to avoid this, so that I can start building up a mental map of how each building/location I visit is situated in global space.

Now why do I think that this scheme could be helpful for inducing lucid dreams? Well:
* First off, I recognize it shares some similarities with "interval-based, reality-check prompts" on phones. One big advantage here though, is that this approach doesn't trigger when the user is merely sitting somewhere for long periods, working or eating or the like -- which lets the user keep it on more consistently without fatigue/abandonment.
* It also trains the user to pre-emptively associate "I'm moving [or about to move] to another location" (which is one of the few things that happens all the time in dreams!) with the thought-process, "Oh hey, I need to think about what my location/direction is globally." -- rather than merely reacting to a prompt initiated by one's phone. In other words, I suspect the tracking process to integrate more thoroughly into a person's core thought processes, due to it being something they can anticipate based on the actions they're about to perform, rather than just a "rote reaction" they develop.
* By having the device on me at virtually all times, I am hoping that the mental processes I associate with movement (eg. "When I'm in our living room, this wall faces north, this wall faces west", etc.) become something that transfers into my dream as well.
* If it does transfer into my dreams, I suspect that this "prompting of location-related memory access" will have the side-effect of leading to improved access of other memories as well. (eg. like how thinking about "what did I do yesterday?" in a dream can trigger other memories from the outside world)
* I also suspect that, by forcing me to interact with the device at my side to stop the buzzing, it will act as a sort of "passive reality check" -- since technology very often does not work correctly in dreams. (and I can do a more reliable check like the nose-plug/breathing check whenever I notice something odd with it)
* Through integration of this "passive reality check", and thinking about my global position/direction, I'm hoping to achieve some of the mindfulness habits involved in techniques such as ADA and @Hukif's Gravity RC technique.

So will it work? If my past experiments (long-term) are a guide, then probably not! But I still want to try it, as I've never tried a technique like it before (ie. one that focuses on daytime training, and avoids sleep disruption), and vaguely-similar techniques like all-day-awareness have given strong results for a select few.

The problem with all-day-awareness for me (and Hukif's Gravity RC), is that they don't have a way to "keep the person compliant". Basically: as the trainee's motivation wanes, there does not seem to be a "clear boundary" between compliance and non-compliance. I see this as a problem, because it means that someone can "start cheating" without having to admit to themselves that they are cheating. In other words, they can just "slowly slide" into increasing non-compliance, until they get to a point where they realize they aren't even following the technique anymore, and they give up.

In contrast, the approach outlined above has the benefit of having compliance enforced by the device; the device will track your direction changes for you, and prompt you with vibrations until you "check in" with the device again. Granted, there is still the "loophole" of the person just pressing all 8 buttons and avoiding the need to think about anything, but this can be avoided in various ways if it becomes a problem. (One idea would be to have a button they can press to say "stop vibrating for a minute so I can think", allowing them time to think about their direction, or get out their phone to check, if it's a new location. They can then input their answer, and if they're wrong, the device will not let them input a new answer until 30 seconds pass or something -- thus making "lazy/cheat inputs" more painful than just finding/remembering the actual answer.)

Anyway, if anyone else has tried an idea like this before, please let me know so I can learn from your/their experience! Also, please don't hesitate to share any thoughts you have on it, including critical ones; I already accept that my experiment has a <50% chance of success, so criticisms are not a problem. If it doesn't work out, I'll still have gained a lot in terms of Arduino development experience. :)

And with that, I'll resume my research (at the moment, looking through options for the device's vibration motor and battery-pack). I plan to post in this thread from time to time, to give updates on my progress.

So, I decided to start out with a slightly different setup than the above: Rather than having a keypad that lets me enter what direction I'm facing, I'll be starting instead with building a system where:
1) Rather than one vibration motor, there will be four; these motors will be placed facing left, right, front, and back, attached (using velcro) to a belt around my waist, that I'll almost always be wearing.
2) Whenever I change the direction I'm facing, whichever motor is closest to facing north will give a short vibration.

While this may not activate the "prospective memory" as much as my earlier-described approach, I figured I would start with this, because it has a higher chance of me "sticking with it" for a long period of time (since it is completely passive, ie. if I am focusing on other things, I never need to interact with it).

What is the theory behind how the new system may help induce lucid dreams? The theory is that, as I move around the house and other locations, the pinging of the vibration motors will start to create:
1) An "ingrained expectation" that whenever I change direction, I will feel a vibration around my waist.
2) The building of a "mental model" of "what direction faces north" for every location that I frequently visit.

By building up these mental expectations/models, the hope is that after some months, when I find myself in a dream and am moving around, those "ingrained expectations" will sometimes "clash" with what I actually find presented in the dream. For example: Moving to a new "dream location" that doesn't exist in the real world, and either failing to feel a vibration ping, or feeling one -- but then accessing my memory of prior directional-vibrations for that location, and finding that no such memory is stored!

In other words, by making "north-anchored vibrations" a part of my everyday life, the hope is that that will eventually filter into my dreams in some way -- but that it will do so in a "flawed way" (eg. no directional-vibration memories exists for this place, which is unusual/rare!), that I will be able to detect.

Of course, there are a number of ways this could still fail:
1) The "north-anchored vibration" system never filters into my dreams. (I expect that if it does filter in, it will probably take months... but would be sad if it never filtered in, for some reason. IIRC, Hukif said it took years for his gravity-rc approach to reliably filter into his dreams...)
2) The system filters into my dreams, but my sleeping self is so unaware that I never think to actually "validate" the directional vibrations against my memory (and/or knowledge of the angle-changes required for activation).
3) The system filters into my dreams, but my sleeping self keeps me from detecting any anomalies, by fabricating "false memories" of directional-vibrations for each location.

Of these three pitfalls, the first one seems the most problematic. I do expect that it will filter in to some extent (after months of usage), but I would not be that surprised if it ended up only filtering in once a week or something similar -- which is not frequent enough.

Anyway, we'll see how it goes; I do want to at least try it, and I can always try other approaches down the road. (now that I'm gaining experience with custom electronics)

==========

As for progress, there are a lot of steps I've completed relating to acquiring the hardware necessary.

There's actually too many pieces for me to want to comprehensively list, but it includes: arduino board, breadboard, wires, vibration motors, motor drivers, usb power pack, breakout board for usb power cord to 5v+ground, soldering kit, soldering wire, electrical tape, wire stripper, multimeter, and so on.

On the software side:
* I have some basic logic working on the Arduino. (receiving test commands over bluetooth, determining the device's absolute orientation using the onboard magnetometer, and controlling the vibration motors)
* I have a basic Android app which is able to connect to the Arduino and send it arbitrary messages; at the moment, I use this for controlling the motor pin's PWM properties, for changing its vibration power and such (for comparing different motors and finding the ideal configurations).

On the hardware side:
* I have just recently (ie. yesterday) started soldering work; prior to this I was using only a breadboard, but now I'm starting the work needed to actually place the hardware in a setup robust enough to use "as a wearable".
* In the next couple of days, I'll be trying to replace my custom transistor setup (on my breadboard) with a mini motor driver (which will make the setup smaller and easier to integrate into the velcro-belt).
* Now that I've decided on the vibration motor and wires I want to use, I'll be ordering a second set of those today. Once they arrive, I can add them to make a full 4-motor ring. (I may add more later, but I'm starting with four, one for each direction.)

After the above, I'll then want to model and print an enclosure for the arduino (and its motor drivers) to protect it from being crushed -- since I plan to keep it on even while sleeping or napping. (this should not be a problem; I've 3d modeled several things in the past which were more complex, and have an at-home 3d printer)

Anyway, there's quite a bit still left to do, but I've also made some good progress so far. Electronics are pretty fun! (I'll definitely need some more practice soldering before I get good at it though...)

Quick update: A week or so ago I got the proof of concept device (using manually assembled parts) to have the basic functionality working.

The problem was that there were many wires and soldering points involved, which made it look messy, and more importantly, fragile (multiple times, the device has had failures due to a wire breaking or the like, while adjusting things).

So to make the device a lot more robust, I hired a freelancer to design a PCB (printed circuit board) equivalent of the device, to avoid so many wires and solder points. That just now completed printing and assembly in a factory, and should arrive in a few days.

Once it arrives, all I'll need to do is slot in my Arduino Nano 33 BLE into the headers, and screw in the four motor wires into the screw terminals. This should make the device robust enough that I'll be able to start using the device on a regular basis. (well, after finishing up a couple things with the app, as well as reworking the 3d-printed enclosure a bit)

It's getting close, and I anticipate seeing what effect (if any) having a "tactile compass" on at (almost) all times will have on my dreaming.

Okay, I've developed the device enough that I think I may be willing to start wearing it long-term.

Here is a picture of it:

Spoiler for Device image:

https://i.imgur.com/NplzChW.jpg

And here is a screenshot of part of the android app: (the Android app is not needed for the device to function; it's just used for configuring it and such)

Spoiler for App config-panel screenshot:

https://i.imgur.com/DDrtuVo.png

Of course, neither the app nor the device are in the "target state" (eg. the loop of wires taped at the bottom-left was me just being too lazy to trim them properly), but they're far enough along that they're functional now, and reasonably comfortable (although I may do one adjustment soon, of putting foam or cardboard between the PCB block and the belt, for better comfort).

Long-term, I'm wanting to make a dedicated enclosure for the PCB. I printed one earlier, but the PCB was created after that, requiring a new enclosure design; and I can't make it quite yet, since the PCB itself still needs some iterations. (I'll probably be asking the freelancer that created it to help me shrink it down further)

Anyway, we'll see if it's comfortable enough now to keep on long-term; if not, the plan is to keep iterating until it becomes so.

If it is already comfortable enough as-is, then in a few days I may start doing a "usage log", where I record my amount of usage for the day/week, and what impact (if any) it had on my dreams during that period. (my guess is that if the concept does work, it will still take quite a while to start filtering into my dreams -- but we'll see)

Alright, I've been wearing the device (virtually) 24/7 since the morning of August 2nd. Last night I had a couple of lucid dreams (one being an interesting DEILD), marking the first success.

Granted, I'm not sure whether the device had anything to do with it (I did not gain awareness specifically from the device malfunctioning in the dream or anything; and I fairly often get lucids "naturally" when focusing on lucid-dream experiments), but still nice to have something on the scoreboard/tracker.

My plan is to generally only make a post whenever I get a success. (the result-tracker will fill in the data for the nights in-between)

Result tracker:
Night log (^=success): 0,0,^
Success-rate: 1/3 (of the successes, 0/1 had a clear relation to the actual device behavior)

Hi Venryx :)
Great that you are trying a new way to find the Lucid Dream tech to help us ;)
Long time we didn't share something together !
So what was the next, did you succeed more ?
Sorry for my poor english !