Dinesh Seemakurty has debuted an innovative sleep mask designed to help the wearer achieve a state of lucid dreaming. Aptly named Project Lucidity, the sleep mask is Maker and modder friendly.
“This lucid dreaming mask is built to be messed with. Engineered using Atmel’s ATmega328P MCU on a 8mhz resonator, the mask is fully compatible with the Arduino IDE,” Seemakurty wrote on the project’s official page. “The [platform] is rechargeable and reprogrammable using the [integrated] micro-USB port so you can make it completely your own. Lucidity was built for any alarm app developer or anyone interested in sleep tracking to incorporate this project into [a] new or existing product.”
So, how does Project Lucidity work? Well, the device initially communicates with the user’s smartphone accelerometer – an action triggered only when the user is already asleep.
“During your action packed dreams, your body paralyzes itself to prevent you from acting out those epic kung-fu moves in real life. In those beautiful moments of bliss, Project Lucidity will activate and aid in your metamorphosis from a measly dreamer to the key-bearer of your subconscious, [with] 8 super bright red LEDs rhythmically blasting photons through your eyelids to nudge you towards lucidity,” Seemakurty explained.
“By flashing these unique light patterns only when you are dreaming, the stimulus will show up as anomalies in your dream. Your brain is tricky though, it will incorporate this visual stimulus into your dream. You might start seeing police lights, feel like the sun keeps flickering, or for some reason a firefly wont stop dancing in your face. With practice, you will recognize these anomalies and realize when you are in a dream, allowing you to become lucid and control your dreams.”
As expected, Project Lucidity’s LEDs are completely customizable, with users setting light pattern type, stimulus speed and brightness. Meanwhile, a specially designed smartphone app alerts Project Lucidity when the user is naturally waking up from his or her deep sleep cycle – gradually brightening daylight LEDs to simulate a sunrise.
Interested in learning more about the Atmel-powered Project Lucidity? You can check out the project’s official page here.
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