Week 0: Computer-Aided Design

The Instructive Brain

Sept 14, 2016

I spent a while thinking about how I could combine the skills I am learning in this class with something that I personally found useful and was passionate about. After brainstorming and making a couple of sketches, I came up with something that would combine my maker's skills with neuroscience: a 3D brain. My plan is to get an fMRI scan of my brain and make a 3D model of it with soft material that resembles brain tissue. Then I will embed LEDs in throughout the surface of the brain. With different emotions and feelings, different LEDs would light up to show what parts of the brain are activated when you are for instance happy, angry, or scared.

I did some research online to see whether I can convert an fMRI scan to a 3D CAD model and found sculpteo, a software that allows you to export a 3D CAD from a DICOM file (the format most medical images come in). I used belnder to view 3D scans of the brain. This project would incroporate a number of skills that we learn in the class, such as 3D printing and embedded programming.

Tools used this week: Antimony, Blender

Final Project Tracking

The Instructive Brain

A former student, Harry McNamara, did a similar project, an interactive brain.

• Construct 5 regions from mesh model of brain
• Cast brain with Sorta Clear with embedded electronics
• Make a master board and 5 peripherals baords. Each board contains a set of LEDs with a different color and a txrx pressure sensor.
• Make a simple interface to show descriptions about each brain region.