Instead of donning robes and lightsabers, University of South Florida students will be strapping on EEG bands to their head and using "The Force" for a different purpose: controlling drones.
"I keep saying it's like Star Wars; it's using the force," said USF Assistant Professor Marvin Andujar from the College of Engineering with a laugh. "You can use any thought you want and you can also imagine yourself jumping or walking or anything moving forward to make the drone move forward."
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpKkwo0rs-Y#action=share[/embed]
Andujar and USF will be hosting "brain drone race" this Saturday, Feb. 9 which is exactly what it sounds like: participants will use their brains alone to control drones and whichever drone goes the fastest wins.
The project began when Andujar was working toward his PhD, with a simple goal in mind.
"I'm interested in this to be the universal sport," he said. "Whether you're in a wheelchair or against someone considered able-body. Inclusivity, especially nowadays, has been an important topic — how can we have them more inclusive? There's always been leagues for men and women, but why not use one sport for everyone? This is the sport that allows everyone to compete in the same event."
According to Andujar, how it works is pretty simple. An EEG device, which can also be seen in hospitals to monitor brain activity, is placed on the forehead. Andujar's software allows thoughts from the EEG device to be transmitted to the small drone, which can be controlled with any thought involving movement.
"We have a lot going on in the brain, so you have to think of the movement to imagine the movement to control the movement," he said. "You can use any thought you want."
Andujar has big plans for the future of drones races: he has partnerships with USF, University of Alabama and University of Florida. Those universities can allow their students to participate in the race, which Andujar hopes can eventually be international.
"This is like a pilot, to do in Tampa," he said, adding he's seen interest from Tokyo and University of Cambridge in England. "To let the community know this is happening at USF and we will keep going. And hopefully have people compete against champions from USF and also compete with others from countries next year."
