Robotic Hand Controlled by Brain Signals

Imagine opening and closing a robotic hand using mental focus or an eye blink. This is the idea behind Armaan Firoz Ahmed’s proposed engineering project: developing a smart prosthetic hand that connects signals recorded by a headset with robotic movement.

Armaan is an Electrical and Electronic Engineering student enrolled in the University of Northampton programme hosted at Gulf University in Bahrain. He has proposed this project for the ENG4004 module, Engineering Project and Professional Studies. His aim is to build an affordable prototype capable of basic grasping tasks by bringing together brain–computer interface technology, embedded systems, and 3D printing.

The proposed system starts with a NeuroSky MindWave Mobile 2 headset. It would transmit recorded data via Bluetooth to an ESP32 microcontroller, where software would process selected attention levels or detected eye blinks and translate them into commands to open or close the hand.

Those commands would pass to a PCA9685 servo controller, which would coordinate six servo motors.

The planned hardware includes an ESP32 microcontroller, a PCA9685 controller, MG996R servos, fingertip sensors, and a 6 V battery. The Arduino IDE would support firmware development, while MATLAB would be used for signal analysis.

At the proposal stage, the project presents a clear engineering ambition: to explore whether a compact, accessible combination of electronics and robotics can provide dependable control of a prosthetic hand. Building and testing that connection will turn the idea into evidence and give Armaan hands-on experience across several areas of engineering.