Raspberry Pi 5 powers cyberpunk themed brain scanner in a custom 3D printed case

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Focus your mind — and control your Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi
(Image credit: The Civitas Universe)

We love Raspberry Pi cyberdecks and all of the amazing creativity that comes from the maker community that makes them. That said, we've never quite seen one like this created by \the YouTube channel known as The Civitas Universe. Sure you could use a keyboard for input but this maker took things a step further and made the rig into a brain scanner that responds in real time to brain waves.

I Built a Cyberdeck Brain Scanner... and It Reads Minds! - YouTube I Built a Cyberdeck Brain Scanner... and It Reads Minds! - YouTube
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The Civitas Universe has dubbed this creation the Neuro Photonic R5 Flow Cyberdeck — named for its brain scanning functionality and the Raspberry Pi 5 powering it inside. The project is built around an existing brain scanning headset and has been programmed to interface with the Pi using an Adafruit Macropad. The housing has been created from scratch just for this project and features a really cool cyberpunk theme.

There are a few ways you could interact with a brain scanning headset like this but The Civitas Universe has demonstrated a really unique function that showcases how much power the user has over the system in real time using just their thoughts alone. The Civitas Universe has set up the rig so that the more your mind is focused and relaxed, the more a lightbulb will dim. If you open your eyes or start thinking too much, the light will illuminate — making it an interesting meditation tool.

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Raspberry Pi
(Image credit: The Civitas Universe)

Like we said before, the main board powering the Neuro Photonic R5 Flow Cyberdeck is a Raspberry Pi 5. It's connected to a used Muse 2 headset for scanning brainwaves, an 800 x 480px touchscreen from Pi Hut for video output as well as an Adafruit Macropad for manual input. The unit relies on a power bank for power, making it portable. All of the hardware is housed inside of a custom, cyberpunk-themed 3D-printed case.

To program the Muse 2 headset, The Civitas Universe is using CircuitPython as the Muse 2 headset comes with Python libraries unique to the hardware. This makes it possible to tap into specific wave functions and trigger custom responses from the data collected by the Pi.

If you want to see this Raspberry Pi project in action, check it out over at the official The Civitas Universe channel.

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Ash Hill
Ash Hill
Contributing Writer

Ash Hill is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware with a wealth of experience in the hobby electronics, 3D printing and PCs. She manages the Pi projects of the month and much of our daily Raspberry Pi reporting while also finding the best coupons and deals on all tech.

2 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Ful4n1t0c0sme
    ...and nobody cares.
    Reply
  • misha1350
    Ful4n1t0c0sme said:
    ...and nobody cares.
    Yes, unfortunately many such cases. Raspberry Pi 5 is but a toy, an expensive one at that. You either make a pointless project like this, and then make a YouTube video that would receive a few thousand views and would be forgotten in an hour, or test something out on Linux but will have to do more work trying to get something to work on a proper server with x86 architecture. For actual IoT usecases on a job that would pay your bills, you'd want to order a bunch of Rock Pis or Radxa SBCs because they're pretty good but don't break the bank.
    Reply