Dream Glove for Communication

[Dewayne]

Hello again everyone, In addition to my other studies involving audio interpretation within dreams, I am planning to build a glove that may be capable of interpreting minute finger movements in the hand. The device will be arduino-based and contain a wireless main board that communicates to a PC via bluetooth along with a very small (1000mah lipoly) battery that should last at least 8 hours per charge, even under constant communication with a nearby computer. The initial revision will be as follows: A Comfortable glove 3 axis Accelerometer on the index finger, probably over the fingernail 3 axis Accelerometer on the middle finger, probably over the fingernail 3 axis Accelerometer on the back of the hand Once built, the device should be very sensitive and send minute finger movement details from each of the 3 accelerometers to a nearby PC. Once this has been completed I will be writing a program (probaby in Java) that will interpret these movements so that it can positively identify individual finger movements despite the sensor noise generated by movement of the hand and/or movement of an adjacent finger. Once this is done, I will be programming the device for 2 sequences. One sequence of finger movements will trigger a loud audible alarm to wake me up. Another sequence will trigger a random audio file to be played so that I can further study the interpretation of audio from the lucid dreaming state. I will keep everyone posted as to my progress.

[hintss]

I would say that maybe a set of XBees would be cheaper, but what do I know?

[kraid]

Thread subscribed. This sounds very interresting, you can do alot of fun things if you get the communication to work. I own an Arduino Duemilanove myself and I'm currently learning Java so I'd love some detailed progress updates

[Clyde Machine]

Very very interesting. Sounds like a similar concept to the NovaDreamer, but for research with audio interpretation during dreams as well as lucid induction.

[dark_grimmjow]

I also subscribed to this thread. Sounds like there could be a lot of possibilities with this project. Just imagine being able to cue things in the real world while being in a dream. Very cool.

[Dewayne]

Successfully recorded a lucid dream experiment during which I remembered to tap each finger in the air 4 times (while standing in-dream). I am very satisfied with the results. It seems that the movements are very weak since the last 2 fingers did not seem to move. This may be due to the weight of the two fingers above it. I do have a theory that my ability to type about 120WPM may have to do with the strength of the movements but that could only be confirmed if someone that does not use a computer daily also posts a video of their sleeping hand. I type on a computer about 5-10 hours a day on average. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JMD3sGMskM

[hintss]

Now to just hook it up to an external output to control...stuff. Like lights!

[Dewayne]

Waiting for the rest of the parts in the mail. In the meantime I'm training myself to tap out hello world with my index and middle fingers. It's quite alot of taps and shorthand may prove useful in the future. H - r r r r E - r L - r l r r L - r l r r O - l l l W - r l l O - l l l R - r l r L - r l r r D - l r r

[hintss]

is that morse code?

[Dewayne]

Yes, it's morse code: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morse_code The index finger corresponds to dot and the middle finger will be dash. Sorry, I shouldn't have posted using "r" and "l" because I am left handed.

[dark_grimmjow]

I have a few suggestions. Please tell me what you think. I think that the fewer finger movements you have to make, the better. So what do you think about communicating in the way most people text. You know like instead of saying later, say l8r, or instead of talk to you later, say ttyl; just whatever abbreviations you can use to shorten things up. The other thing i was thinking of, kind of fits in with the above suggestion, but a little bit different. If you can come up with a short list of common words you would want to use or a short list of commands, you could make up specific finger patterns for those words or commands. The only problem i could see is that making a list of commands means learning the patterns for each of those commands. The longer the list, the more complicated it could be learning the list. This might work well for the program you were going to create to interact with your glove. It would be shorter to make patterns for commands rather than spell out the commands with morse code. Like if you were wanting to cue a sound file, instead of spelling out "sound" in morse code; you could try using a much shorter pattern you create to stand for the cue sound command. But then again, the morse code would be better if you were wanting to send a message rather than a command. Like if you were wanting to describe something you were seeing in the dream. This would be awesome if you could use this to record a dream as it was happening. I also noticed that you were using your pointer and middle finger only, because the ring and pinky finger didn't want to move; maybe you could try your thumb too to see if that will move. One more thing. Maybe you could try to tap more than one finger at once. Like you tap your pointer and middle finger at the same time; especially since you already proved that you can move those fingers while in sp. You could use a two finger simultaneous tap to represent a third symbol to morse code. If you had a third symbol to use in the morse code, you could shorten the amount of taps per letter. Just some suggestions. Let me know what you think. Sorry for making it so long.

[hintss]

and add a 3rd finger to the mix. snd - sound lht - light also, couldn't you wake yourself up with commands to the computer, so you can immediately put it down instead of bothering typing it?

[cedward1]

One thing I would like to see someone try is to construct an "Optical Mouse", and use it during a Lucid Dream. Since the eyes respond to what you do while dreaming, a similar setup to your dream glove could be made with the optical mouse. The two working together could be pretty neat. Concievably, you could memorize your computer screen in a specially designed program, and control it from within a lucid dream. Using your glove, you could use your finger to click on a button you guided the cursor to using your eyes. The button could give external stimulus to help control the dream, or communicate with those outside of the dream, etc. I sure wish my engineering skills were better. I've wanted to try this kind of thing for a long time.

[cedward1]

Eye mouse, not optical mouse. Here's a DIY website, with free software: http://www.uglydoggy.com/2009/01/diy...led-mouse.html

[kraid]

Unless you sleep with your eyes open, that kind of precision eye tracking would be very hard to achieve.

[cedward1]

I am sure I read once about an eye mouse that worked on a different method. That one registered differences in electrochemistry in the skin around the eyes, and would therefore work just as well with the eyes closed. That's more of what I had in mind really. I see now that the above link does not refer to that type of setup. Here is a description (the second one described): http://www-rcf.usc.edu/~wdutton/comm533/EYEM-WU.htm

[kraid]

ah great find, yea that should work with closed eyes.

[YYNYM]

That would be amazing. Hope he really does it. I would, but I don't have the skills.

[hintss]

wouldn't this whole thing be easier to use that voice recognition module I saw in a scientificsonline.com catalog before, then hook that up to the arduino?

[kraid]

hintss: Then he have to be able to talk in his sleep at will, or how did you mean?

[hintss]

ya. shouldn't take too much practice right? also, since there are more people know that they sleeptalk than there are those that already know which fingers atonia dosen't affect, right?

[kraid]

hintss: Unless you have RBD (rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder) I'd say it's _very_ unlikely to accomplish this. Do you have any source to it being possible or how did you come up with the idea?

[cedward1]

There has been at least one experiment in which a person was hypnotized to talk in their sleep, and narrated the events of their dreams to a researcher. The case that I know of was a person with a history of talking in his sleep, though. Still, it merits a closer investigation.

[Kane]

Hmm I can already see some problems with this method of communication. The hands are amongst the most unstable parts of the body while dreaming. That is why so many RCs and dream stabilization techniques are based on staring at or rubbing your hands. Are you sure that you will be able to maintain good perception and control of all of your fingers while you are lucid in a dream? Have you had issues with unstable hand forms in your dreams? I think it would be a good idea for you to practice some pre-determined finger motions while you are lucid in your future lucid dreams to ensure that you can maintain good stability with your hands. If you cannot, then your communications device cannot be used reliably and you would be wasting your current time and money. Good luck with this project ! Subscribed!

[topcat]

I posted this reply on Lucidipedia as well: I like what you are doing. This is a very exciting area: communicating from within a dream to the outside world. Long ago there was talk of attaching sensors to all the nerves/muscles involved with sign language and having the lucid dreamer sign. I am also interested in inter-dream electronic communication between two or more lucid dreamers. If interested, see my recent article, 'Multi-Player Dream Games,' at: http://www.dreaminglucid.com/issues/LDE%2054.pdf With the new movie Inception coming out in July, such interest in lucid dreams and dream communication can only increase.