Charlie Gerard
NET|March 2020
From flying drones with her thoughts to fashioning interactive clothing, creative technologist Charlie Gerard gives us an insight into her many side projects and explains how front-end devs can get started with machine learning
Oliver Lindberg
Charlie Gerard

Charlie Gerard is fascinated with human-computer interaction, in particular how you can use web technologies in unusual ways outside of the browser. She realised that if there’s an API or JavaScript framework, you don’t actually have to use devices as they were intended but instead you can hack them and build your own prototypes. For her first side project, she controlled a Sphero robotic ball with a Leap Motion and a sprinkle of Node.js in order to make it move with hand gestures. It eventually led her to wow conference audiences around the world with a talk about controlling things with the brain using JS.

“I was researching other devices I could buy and came across brain sensors,” Gerard remembers. “I became interested in neurotechnology and it really opened up a world for me. I had absolutely no idea that you could just buy a brain sensor and that as a dev I could build something with it. As soon as I discovered that, I had to tell people.”

Gerard learned that some sensors like the NeuroSky give you access to raw data, which can be used for machine learning. Others give you access to mental commands or facial expressions, making it possible to interact with a web interface through eye movements. At the time there wasn’t a JavaScript framework to use with the Emotiv Epoc sensor, so to build an interface, Gerard wrote her own opensource JavaScript framework, based on the sensor’s C++ SDK, as well as a Node.js add-on. It enabled other developers to play around with this technology without having to learn C++ or Java. The experiments she built with it include a brain keyboard (look right or left to highlight a letter, blink to select and display it in the input field), pushing a three.js 3D cube and even flying a mini drone with mental commands.

Bu hikaye NET dergisinin March 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

Bu hikaye NET dergisinin March 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

NET DERGISINDEN DAHA FAZLA HIKAYETümünü görüntüle
Camille Gribbons
NET

Camille Gribbons

UX designer at Booking.com, Camille Gribbons reveals how she first got into the industry

time-read
7 dak  |
June 2020
THE 5G UI REVOLUTION
NET

THE 5G UI REVOLUTION

Tris Tolliday describes his vision of a web UI catapulted forwards by 5G

time-read
3 dak  |
June 2020
HOW TO SHOWCASE YOUR DEV SKILLS
NET

HOW TO SHOWCASE YOUR DEV SKILLS

Aude Barral shares 5 top tips for landing your dream developer job

time-read
3 dak  |
June 2020
KNIVES OUT
NET

KNIVES OUT

Murder mystery film, Knives Out, grabbed everyone’s attention, and so did the fun website that promoted it. Oblio tells Tom May how it created its innovative 3D navigation

time-read
6 dak  |
June 2020
HOW EMOTIONAL LABOUR HINDERS WOMEN IN TECH
NET

HOW EMOTIONAL LABOUR HINDERS WOMEN IN TECH

Christine Brewis, head of digital marketing at Studio Graphene, discusses how gender parity in tech has changed over the last ten years, and what more can be done

time-read
5 dak  |
June 2020
EDAN KWAN
NET

EDAN KWAN

He swapped life as a singer for a career making eye-popping digital visuals. The Lusion founder chats to Tom May about battling demons, winning awards and where digital advertising is heading

time-read
8 dak  |
June 2020
ANDREW COULDWELL
NET

ANDREW COULDWELL

The Brit in LA discusses his new book on design systems, Laying the Foundations

time-read
3 dak  |
June 2020
Top 5 Tips For Ensuring Web Content Is Accessible For All
NET

Top 5 Tips For Ensuring Web Content Is Accessible For All

Merlyn Meredith outlines five top tips for ensuring web content is accessible for all

time-read
2 dak  |
May 2020
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR BROWSERS?
NET

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR BROWSERS?

Nico Turco examines the state of play with browsers, whether developers should encourage diversity or monopoly and how Google fits into it all

time-read
6 dak  |
May 2020
YEARS IN THE MAKING
NET

YEARS IN THE MAKING

Exclusively for net: The latest in a series of anonymous accounts of nightmare clients

time-read
3 dak  |
May 2020