CONTROLLING A BB-8 DROID WITH

THE FORCE OF YOUR BRAIN

Nataliya KOSMYNA

natalie@kosmina.eu www.kosmina.eu @nataliyakosmyna

PRESS KIT
 BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACES

Imagine you could control any object with your brain.

Well, nowadays your dreams are reality thanks to Brain
Computer Interfaces (BCIs).

BCIs allow anyone to interact with a computer system by

means of one’s brain activity. The most common type of
BCIs measure the electrical activity of the brain through
Electroencephalography (EEG) by electrodes set on the
scalp.

To build a BCI, a person is instructed to perform one or

more mental actions (e.g. imagine you are moving your
hand, or visualize an object), after which a classification
algorithm is trained to recognize the recorded activity. For
each class of mental activity recognized, an action can
be associated and triggered on a computer system.

It is also possible to detect other phenomena in the brain,

for example the fact of hearing a semantically
unexpected statement (“I want coffee with cat” instead
of “I want coffee with milk”) or when one is lying.

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 CONTROLLING A BB-8 DROID WITH A BRAIN-COMPUTER
INTERFACE

Brain Computer Interfaces allow associating a concept or

a visualised image by a person to an action or command
carried out by a computer.

The BB-8 being a droid from Episode VII of Star Wars

controlled by Bluetooth (designed by Sphero), sending
commands from a nearby computer is easy. Thus, the
commands produced by a Brain Computer Interface can
be used to control the droid.

There are two ways of controlling the droid. The first is

imagined movement, where one must imagine moving
hands or feet in order to control the BB-8. The other in
imagined concepts, where one must imagine/visualize
objects and notions that correspond to droid actions.

A full control of the droid is possible: turn left/right, strafe

left/right, move forward/backwards, etc.

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 CONTROLLING A BB-8 DROID WITH A BRAIN-COMPUTER
INTERFACE IF YOU ARE ON THE LIGHT SIDE

CONCEPTUAL IMAGINATION

Imagine Poe Dameron, the owner

of BB-8 to make it moving towards you

Imagine Rey, to make the BB-8 talk

to you

Imagine Resistance X-Wing to go

forward

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 CONTROLLING A BB-8 DROID WITH A BRAIN-COMPUTER
INTERFACE IF YOU ARE ON THE SIDE OF THE FIRST ORDER

IMAGINED MOVEMENTS AND CONCEPTUAL IMAGINATION

Imagine Kylo Ren to go make the

BB-8 moving towards you

Imagine the stormtrooper to make

the BB-8 moving forward

Imagine moving your right hand to turn the

BB-8 right

Imagine moving your left hand to turn the

BB-8 left

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 SET UP

The demonstration is easy to set-up: we only need a table

and one or two chairs depending if you want to control
the BB-8 by yourself or by fighting with someone!

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 SHORT BIO

The demonstration is the result of the work of Nataliya

KOSMYNA, Ph.D in Computer Science from Grenoble
Alpes University.

Nataliya received a scholarship from L’Oréal-UNESCO for

Women and Science 2016.

She also won a prize of best PhD thesis 2016 from

Université Grenoble Alpes community

For more information and other demonstrations such as

piloting a Speeder Bike by the brain, check out her site
www.kosmina.eu

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 MEET-UP « NEW INTELLIGENCE »
OF DASSAULT SYSTEMS

I participated at the Meet-Up « New Intelligence » of

Dassault Systems on the 07/07/2016. I gave a talk as well
as a live demo of piloting a drone with one’s brain.

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 TEDXVANNES, JULY 2016

I gave a talk about Brain-Computer Interfaces at

TEDxVannes, on the 09/07/2016.

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 TEDXFHKUFSTEIN, JUNE 2016

I gave a talk about Brain-Computer Interfaces at

TEDxFHKufstein as well as a demo of controlling a BB8
droid with the force of one’s mind on the 24/06/2016.

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 DEMONSTRATION AT WONDERCON 2016 IN LOS ANGELES

The demo of the mind-controlled BB-8 was first presented

publicly at Wondercon 2016 in Los Angeles on the 25-27
March 2017.

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 DEMONSTRATION FOR « TROPHIES FUTUREMAG (ARTE) »

I participated in « Innovation Trophies» of ARTE-FutureMag

on the 17th February 2016 to celebrate their second
birthday.
http://www.arte.tv/magazine/futuremag/fr/nataliya-
kosmyna-pilote-des-objets-par-la-pensee-futuremag

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PRESS COVERAGE

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For detailed information and press excerpts:
http://www.kosmina.eu/press-cover/

• “Moving the objects with the force of one’s mind” to

watch at France 3 Bretagne here, november 2016.

• “The power of one’s thought” to watch at M6 from

12/10/2016 here.
• “How to control an object with one’s thought” to
watch at E=M6 here (in french).

• Article in december 2016 issue of Quebec Science

featuring my work on Brain-Computer Interfaces.
• Article from Agence France Presse about my work on
Brain-Computer Interfaces appeared in Le Parisien,
Le Direct Matin, Sciences et Avenir, TV5Monde, the
2nd of december 2016.

• Read how to control the objects with one’s thought

in 20 Minutes here.

• “Will we be able to control the objects with the force

of our minds” in Capital magazine, special issue, July-
August 2016

• Paris Match magazine (Special Issue: “Revolution of

the Brain”) we talk about piloting a drone as well
as Sphero BB-8 droid control with the force of the
brain

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• An interview with me is available from France Inter on
the 04/07/2016: “Acting on the connected objects
with one’s mind”

• In 01Net magazine we talk about piloting a drone as

well as Sphero BB-8 droid control with the force of the
brain

• Explaining how can we pilot a drone with our brain

for 10-15 years old at LCI TF1 on the 26/03/2016

• The interview with me at France Inter on the

19/03/2016: “Taking off the drone with your brain“

• The interview with me at Radio Nova on the

17/03/2016: The magic of the informatics

• «Controlling a robot with your brain». My project is

explained at iTELE on the 17/03/2016
• «Piloting a drone with your brain is not a science
fiction». My project is explained at France3 Paris
IDF on the 15/03/2016

• An interview with me is available from France Inter on

the 22/02/2016: “Acting on the connected objects
with one’s mind”

• An article about a brainy drone demo, BB-8 droid

controlled by the force of one’s mind and a little bit
about myself is available in Ouest France, L’edition du
soir from the 19/01/2016 and in a paper version of
Ouest France from the 20/01/2016

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• “Nataliya Kosmyna controls the objects with the
force of her mind” at ARTE, Futuremag on the 9th of
January, 2016

• I was featured in the “New Tech Newscast” (JT des

Nouvelles Technos) and was talking about controlling
objects with one’s mind on Sunday, December
13th,2015 on all TV5MONDE International networks

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PRESS EXCERPTS: 20 MINUTES, OCTOBER 2016

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PRESS EXCERPTS: PARIS MATCH HORS-SERIE, JULY 2016

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PRESS EXCERPTS: 01NETMAG, JUNE 2016

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PRESS EXCERPTS: OUEST FRANCE, JANUARY 2016

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WHERE DO THE DEMONSTRATIONS TAKE PLACE ?

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OTHER DEMONSTRATIONS: CONTROL OF THE SMART HOME,
MINIKIT PROTOTYPE

For InnoRobo 2015, a yearly industrial salon on robotics in

Lyon, France, I made a demonstration of my Brain
Computer Interface in a new setting: the control of a
smart home “minikit” prototype.

The prototype had a miniature door, a lamp and a fan

connected to an openHab set-top-box. Users could
open/close the door and turn on/off the fan and lamp by
visualizing associated concepts in their minds.

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 OTHER DEMONSTRATIONS: PILOTING A DRONE WITH YOUR
BRAIN

The AR Drone being a drone controlled by Wi-Fi, sending

commands from a nearby computer is easy. Thus, the
commands produced by a Brain Computer Interface can
be used to control the drone. There are two ways of
controlling the drone. The first is imagined movement,
where one must imagine moving hands or feet in order to
control the drone. The other in imagined concepts, where
one must imagine/visualize objects and notions that
correspond to drone actions. A full control of the drone is
possible: turn left/right, strafe left/right, move
forward/backwards, go up/down.

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THE OTHER APPLICATIONS: PLAY THE DOOM3 !

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THE OTHER APPLICATIONS : CONTROL OF THE SMART HOME

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 THE OTHER APPLICATIONS: VIRTUAL REALITY DEMO

The force of your mind is within you! Come and unleash

the force of your mind to control the mythical Millennium
Falcon! Jump inside and think of the commands and the
Falcon obeys. An immersive experience from inside the
Falcon thanks to the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset.

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 THE OTHER APPLICATIONS: PLAY THE FOOTBALL WITH THE
FORCE OF YOUR BRAIN!

Only one minute of training is sufficient to become a

football player that uses the power of his thought to
control the ball! Imagine a ball to make it move forward.
Imagine a red card to make it stop.

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 The website: http://kosmina.eu

The projet BRAINI : http://brainifr.com

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