karaloop P3.0
The karaloop P3.0 is a headset that consists of a padded headband designed to provide extensive-use comfort, two lateral hubs housing an Arduino-compatible Bluefruit nRF52 Feather board which is automatically recognized via BLE as a human-interface device (HID) by any PC, iOS or Android device, and a rechargeable built-in battery that delivers hours of wireless use in a single charge. The karaloop P3.0 also features three probes that detect voluntary movements of the face: two mechanical contact probes capturing orofacial movements bilaterally via magnetic-based sensing, and a contactless probe capturing forehead movements via optical sensing.
Unlike the karaloop P1.0 and P2.0, the karaloop P3.0 has been tested and demonstrated in relevant operational environments (TRL 7). See someone with tetraplegia, who cannot use his own hands, making phone calls (iPhone and Android), playing videogames and texting (WhatsApp on iMac) with the karaloop P3.0.
Designed for easy setup, the karaloop P3.0 is calibration-free and only requires an initial mechanical adjustment to ensure a stable and comfortable fit for all-day use of mainstream devices without hands. See this initial adjustment demonstrated on someone who cannot use his hands here.
By using the Bluefruit nRF52 Feather board, the karaloop P3.0 is Arduino compatible. But this requires first installing the Adafruit Bluefruit nRF52 BSP (Board Support Package) and test it. Check Adafruit's Arduino Support Setup for details. Once installed, it is possible to flash sketches using the Arduino IDE.
The karaloop P3.0 firmware reads the signals from the magnetic and optical sensors and translate them into HID mouse commands which are sent via BLE to any device. The files are available for download here.
In addition to the Bluefruit nRF52 Feather board, the karaloop P3.0 headset incorporates two Adafruit MLX90393 magnetometer breakout boards and a custom-made PMW3901 optical flow sensor board.
Electronic and mechanical design source files are available for download here.
The karaloop P3.0 assembly guide is available for download here.
This wiki documentation work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
