Comment by TheRealHB

2 years ago

Sure,

Here is what I did to my current v.3+

- Once it reaches the lowest rate, the LED goes off after a 30min timer set, it fades the light over that time under the same blinking rate. So I won't notice. - The Idea comes from desperation really, mostly curiosity on why sound beats from upbeat music had a effect to improve mood, i.e. work more at gym. Also the idea that your brain will take patterns and try to synch with. Check PubMed (few articles about) - I started with a software version (v.1 and v2) and then a hardware one. No idea why, but hardware (as a side device) works really good. I 3D printed a tiny case and it is discreetly below my iMac screen powered by the USB. Look like an old modem but tiny.

Finally...

- I added the heart monitor (a cheap cable and wrist sensor) to see if I could shorten the time to achieve the lowest rate of blink based on my heart response instead of waiting the time or trying to read brainwave pattern (I try measuring voltage and electric wave form, from a headband I bought and returned after a rapid test) but the signal would mix with the work in front of me, so useless and expensive.

Using heart rate looks cheap, non-intrusive and effective to shorten the time, it goes 1/3 of time to get lowest, could use an apple watch vs cable and sensor but I'm cheap.

; )

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TheRealHB

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gregsadetsky  2 years ago

Thanks, super interesting!

There was research some time ago (jeez, 10 years ago...) [0] [1] that used video and... computer vision algorithms to detect a person's heart rate without any devices. Wondering if it could be used here i.e. use your webcam instead of an external hardware sensor?

Other thing - would you be open to publishing/sharing your algorithm / esp32 code (on Github or as a blog article)?

[0] https://news.mit.edu/2012/amplifying-invisible-video-0622

[1] https://people.csail.mit.edu/mrub/vidmag/

  • TheRealHB  2 years ago

    We use this approach of video heartbeat detection on a real product (recruiting tool) but not for my hack ADHD device,

    You can't really do video detection it in real time and properly, without overheating the cheap device. On the SaaS we did we use a recorded segment of video so we can analyse it afterwards, check the colour changes in the face of the subject and try estimate heartbeat with loose accuracy. More like high, Normal, Low after taking a few seconds as base.

    The idea of the ADHD device was just a cheap hack done in a day for myself.

    Not a product or commercial as I don't feel claiming it can do to others what I looks like does to me.

    Happy to share here FREE ; )

    • SuperCuber  2 years ago

      I'm definitely NOT attending an interview where this kind of tech is used. My heart rate is irrelevant to whether someone should hire me - and I say that as someone who doesn't even get anxious or nervous during interviews.

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