Do It Yourself EMDR equipment (lightbar, buzzers and headphones). Firmware and controller app.
Please watch this video about the project.
The invention of LED stripes with ready mounted LED pixels makes the DIY manufacturing of EMDR light bar a piece of cake. :-)
The only electrical component missing from these stripes is an USB connection. This is done by a Teensy microcontroller, which implements a USB peripheral protocol on the one hand and the WS2812 serial bus on the other. The USB connection also powers the microcontroller and the LEDs. Fortunately, an EMDR light bar never has more than one LED illuminated at the same time, so USB current is sufficient.
Wiring is quite simple, since the Teensy LC already has a 5 V driver on board. Please refer to https://github.com/PaulStoffregen/WS2812Serial.
| amount | article | example order link |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | WS2812 LED strip, 1m, 60 LEDs | https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B01CDTED80 |
| 1 | Teensy LC microcontroller | https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B07CXMMP1T |
| 1 | aluminium profile for led strips | https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B06XFT5X4T |
| 2 | end caps for led stip profile | https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B06XGDJPG8 |
| 1 | reduceer bushing 1/4" to 3/8" | https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B01MT77RHN |
| 1 | mini tripod | https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B001IXSIE8 |
| 950 mm | square wooden staff 19x19 mm | hardware store |
| 1 | Teensy case | www.thingiverse.com/thing:2841269 |
| 6 | countersunk screw 3.0x12 mm | hardware store |
| 1 | micro USB cable 1.8m | https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01GGKYE4U |
It would be some act of handcraft to build your own buzzers. It is way easier to purchase some proper erotic device called "bullet vibrator" and disassemble the needed parts. You just should not tell your clients about the original purpose of these buzzers. ;-)
Again, to connect the buzzers to an USB bus, a Teensy microcontroller is used. Other than with the lightbar you need some extra electronic components to drive the buzzer motors.
| amount | article | example order link |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | bullet vibrator | https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B000W735GC |
| 1 | Teensy LC microcontroller | https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B07CXMMP1T |
| 1 | ULN2001A transistor array | https://www.conrad.de/de/p/stmicroelectronics... |
| 1 | resistor 10R, 1W | https://www.conrad.de/de/p/weltron... |
| 1 | perfboard | https://www.conrad.de/de/p/tru-components... |
| 1 | plasic case 75x25x56 mm | https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B003WGT3N4 |
| 4 | rubber base self-adhesive | https://www.conrad.de/de/p/3m-sj-5302... |
| 1 | micro USB cable 1.8m | https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01GGKYE4U |
| 1 | single row pin header (male & female) | https://www.amazon.de/dp/B016U9XYBG |
Controller is optional. You can also use a PC or Laptop with MacOS, Windows or Linux to run the controller software.
| amount | article | example order link |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raspberry Pi model B+ | https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B07BDR5PDW |
| 1 | Micro SD-card 16 GB | https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B008RDCCR6 |
| 1 | 3.5" touchscreen with case for raspberry pi | https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B07S8CKW58 |
| 1 | Pi 3 power adapter | https://www.amazon.de/dp/B01566WOAG |
Sound stimulation is played by the integrated sound hardware, either of your PC or Raspberry Pi standalone controller. Just attach an appropriate headphone to the sound jack.
Easiest way to program the Teensy microcontrollers is to use the Arduino IDE with Teensyduino extension. You can run this on MacOS, Windows or Linux. Just start the IDE, load the proper Arduino project file from my repository (subdirectory "firmware"), attach the teensy device, press the programming button on the device and the upload button in the IDE. Done.
You can test the device by using the Arduino serial monitor tool. Just send the letter "i". You should receive the device identifier, either "EMDR Lightbar" or "EMDR Buzzer".
Since the controller is a python script, you can run it on any platform supported by pyGame and pyUSB, e.g. Windows, MacOS or Linux. You have to have Python 3.x installed.
Copy the files from my repository (subdirecotry "controller"), including the "imgs" directory.
Install necessary libraries with pip install -r requirements.txtor pip3 install -r requirements.txt.
In order to run the pyUSB library, you also need "libusb" to be installed. Please
see https://github.com/pyusb/pyusb for further instructions.
To set up a standalone controller on a Raspberry Pi, you would have to do some expert work, like installing a Linux OS on a SD card, install and start the LCD driver for the touchscreen display, istall libusb, change password, configure for graphical desktop with auto login, download and install the controller software from my repository and set up the desktop to autostart the controller software after boot.
But fortunately, there is PiBakery. You can use the "recipe"-File from my repository (subdirectory "pi") and PiBakery to burn a ready-to-go SD-card. At the very first boot, the Raspberry Pi will download and install all necessary software. For that, the Pi will have to have internet access. Just attach the Pi to your local ethernet. After a while, the Pi reboots and shows the controller software. From now on, no network connection is needed again. You can use the Pi as a simple controller panel for the EMDR equipment.