BrainBLOXSoftwareReadMe

BRAINBLOXSoftwareReadMeDocumentation

Director:AlaaAhmed,Ph.D.PrimaryDocumentationAuthor:KatrinaSiegfried

PrimarySoftwareAuthor:JosephCooper

AbstractThis software, developed initially in the Department of Integrative Physiology at University of Colorado Boulder, provides an interface to capture, record, and visualize data provide by the Wii Balance Board. The current interface only works on Windows XP and newer. Funding for this project is provided by the National Science Foundation.

TheNeuromechanicsLaboratory

THEUNIVERSITYOFCOLORADOBOULDER

Thissoftware,developedintheNeuromechanicsLaboratoryintheDepartmentofIntegrativePhysiologyat theUniversity of Colorado at Boulder, provides an interface to capture, record, and visualize dataprovidebytheWiiBalanceBoard.Thissoftwareis intendedforeducationandresearchuseandisnotintendedforresaleorprofitabledistributionofanykind.

The current interface only works on PC’s with Windows XP and newer and requires a bluetoothtransceiverandsoftwaretoconnectthesoftwaretotheWiiBalanceBoard.Anybluetoothtransceiverwith Blue Solie software is suitable, this includes theWindows built-in bluetooth software-hardwarecombination.

FundingforthisprojectisprovidedbytheNationalScienceFoundation.

Formoreinformation,pleaseusethefollowingresources

CUNeuromechanicsLaboratory:http://www.colorado.edu/neuromechanics/

Open-SourceaccesstotheBrainBLOXsoftwareanddocumentation:https://www.dropbox.com/sh/afp441flpnhyr65/AABFL8L6rcJmO9imUVPq-q8pa?dl=0

Open-SourceaccesstotheC++codefortheBrainBLOXsoftware:https://bitbucket.org/cuneuromechanics/balance-board-neuro

BrainBLOXSoftwareReadMe

Table of Contents

ConnectingtheNintendoWiiBalanceBoardorWiimotes:.........................................................................1

IntroductiontotheSoftwareInterface:.......................................................................................................2

PlotRegion...............................................................................................................................................3

ControlPanel............................................................................................................................................4

CloningChannelsforDataComparison:.......................................................................................................7

AcclimationtoDataCollection:....................................................................................................................8

SavingandReadingData:...........................................................................................................................10

SavingData.............................................................................................................................................10

LoadingDataintoBrainBLOX.................................................................................................................10

ReadingtheData....................................................................................................................................11

TroubleshootingandFAQ’s:.......................................................................................................................12

BrainBLOXSoftwareReadMe

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Installation of Software

Follow the instructions on the CU Boulder Neuromechanics Laboratory website to download the‘BrainBLOX Download’ folder. This download folder contains a folder with the applications and files(includingtheexecutableBrainBLoX.exe),thesoftwarereadmefile(thisfile),andasampleactivitytogetstartedwithBrainBLoX(YourFirstBrainBLoXActivity.pdf).

Thedownloadfoldercanbemovedtoany locationonthecomputer.However, itmustbenotedthatwhilethedocumentationfilesincludingthemodulesandreadmefilescanbemovedoutofthefolder,theBrainBLOXexecutablefilemustremaininthe‘ApplicationandFiles’folderalongwithalloftheotherfilescontainedwithinit.Iftheexecutablefileisremovedfromthatfolderitwillnotrun.

Toopenthesoftwareexecutable,titled‘BrainBlox.exe’simplydoubleclickonthefile.Toopenanyotherfileinthefolderdoubleclickonthefile.

Connecting the Nintendo Wii Balance Board or Wiimotes:

1. Makesureyourcomputerhasaworkingbluetooth transceiverordongle,bluetoothsoftware,andthattheWiiequipmenthasbatteries.

2. Pressandholdthe'connect'buttonontheWiiequipment(locatedbeneaththebatterypanel),thelightwillflashblue.

3. Open'MyBluetoothPlaces'andselect'Addadevice'.4. FollowthepromptstoaddtheWiidevice,thebalanceboardappearsas'Nintendo-RLV-WBC-05. Once the bluetooth software indicates that the device is connected, continue to hold the

‘connect’ button for an additional 30 seconds, this will ensure your operating software hasenoughtimetoupdateanydriversfortheWiiequipment.

6. Release the ‘connect’button.TheWiideviceshouldbeconnectedandyoucannowopentheBrainBLOX.exeexecutable.

7. UponopeningtheBrainBLOXexecutable,clickthe‘Connect’buttoninthecontrolpanelontherighthandcornertolinkthesoftwaretotheWiiequipment.Ifsuccessful,therewillbeagreencursorinthemiddleoftheplotregion,andthecontrolpanelontherightsidewillpopulatewithcontrols.

Introduction to the Software Interface:

TheBrainBLOXsoftwareinterfaceconsistsofagraphicalplotregionandacontrolpanel.Thegraphicalplotregionislocatedontheleft,andthecontrolpanelisontheright,pleaseseeFigure1below.

Figue1:AscreenshotoftheBrainBLOXsoftwareinterface

In order to understand the discussion of the functionality of the software there are a few keyprogramming terms thatmustbeunderstood.A channel refers to a single streamof data. If oneWiiboardisconnectedtotheprogram,itsdataoccupiesonechannel.IfaWiiBalanceBoardandaWiimotewere connected youwould have two channels of data – one for the Balance Board and one for theWiimote.Cloningreferstocopyingachannelandallofitsdataandsettings.

Plot Region

Theplotregionissubdividedintothegraphicplotregionwherethedataisdisplayedandfourtabsontherightside–recenttrace,timeplot,fulltrace,anddebugBTseeFigure2.

Figure2:AscreenshotoftheBrainBLOXplotregion

The recent traceplotareawilldisplay thedata currentlybeing collected from the sensorson theWiiBalanceboardand the real-time recordingofdata if youare in recordingmode.At the centerof thescreenisthecursorwhichdisplaysthelocationofthecenterofmass.Bytogglingsettingsonthecontrolpanelitcanalsoshowproportionalchangesinthequantityofthecenterofmass.

Thetimeplotisareal-timeplotofsensorvaluesversustimewherethesensorvaluesaregivenastheirrelativedistanceoftheCOPfromcenter,andquantityofmassontheboard.ThebluelinecorrespondstotheCOPdistancefromcenterinthex-direction,thegreenlinecorrespondstotheCOPdistancefromcenter in the y-direction (in centimeters), and the black line corresponds to the quantity of massmeasuredbytheboard(inkilograms).

The full trace displays the entire trace path AFTER a trace has been actively recording, but if not inrecordingmodeitwillremainblank.

ThedebugBTscreendisplays informationregardingconnectivityanderrorsignals.This information isdiagnosticallyrelevantforprogrammingandde-buggingpurposesbutisnotnecessaryforsoftwareuse.

Control Panel

The control panel is located on the right side of the screen; this is where the user can manipulateparametersandcontrolswithintheprogram,seeFigure3.Thefollowingdescriptionsforthecontrolsonthepanelareorderedfromtoptobottom.

ConnectButton–thisbutton is tobepressedatthestartofthesessionandduringthesession if theconnection is lost. Specifically this button initiates a protocol that searches for the bluetoothdeviceconnectedtothecomputer.

RecordTime–Forpre-setlengthrecordedtiming,oftheformathh:mm:ss.Ifyouwantedtorecord10second trials, youwould set the timer to00:00:10.To initiate timed recordingsyoupress the‘StartAll’button,NOTthe‘Record’button.

StartAllButton–Beginsrecordingsonallchannels.Willrecorduntilstoppedunlessthetimer(Recordtime)issettoanon-zerovalue.

StopAllButton–Stopsallrecordingsonallchannelswhenrecordingisuntimed.

ClearAllButton–Clearsthepreviouslyrecordeddatafromalltrials.DONOTPRESSthisbuttonifyouwant to save your recorded data until all data has been saved using the ‘Save All’ or ‘Save’functions.

SaveallButton–Savestherecordeddataonallchannelsasa filewithnoextension.Seethe“SavingandReadingData”sectionforinstructionsforhowtoreadandsavedata.

DataChannelTabs–Thedatachannelsandtheirclones(copies)aredesignatedwithanumberedtabonthecontrolpanel.Thedefaultfirstchanneliscalled‘1’.Channelsinwhichdatacanberecordedarelabeledwithpositivenumbers,i.e.‘1’or‘5’,clonesofthesechannelswhichhouserecordeddatabutcannotbeusedtorecordnewdataarelabeledwithnegativenumbers,i.e.‘-1’or‘-3’.Toworkwithinadesignatedchannelsimplyclickonthecorrespondingtab.

ZeroSensorsButton–Thisfunctionwilltareallsensorsconnectedtothesoftware.

Record Button – This initiates untimed recording of data. Collection of data can be terminated byclickingthisbuttonasecondtime.

Figure3:AscreenshotoftheBrainBLOXcontrolpanel

Save Button– Will open a “Save As” dialog to save the data recorded in this channel only as anextension-less file.Formore informationonsavingandreadingdata,see“SavingandReadingData”.Thiswillsavedataintheactivechannelonly,tosavedatafromallchannelsusethe‘SaveAll’function.

FramesCount–Thenumberofmillisecondsthathaveelapsedsincetheprogrambeganinmilliseconds.

ClearButton–Thisremovesallofthedatawithintheactivechannel.

CloneButton–Thiswilcopyallofthedataandpreferenceswithinthecurrentchannelintoaclone,orcopy, channel, indicatedwithanegativenumbersuchas ‘-1’.Aclonedchannelcannot recordnewdata.

Battery Meter – The battery meter gives the user a read-out of the battery levels for the deviceconnectedintothatchannel.

DataMatrix–Thismatrixconsistsofallofsomedataoutputsincludingthemaximum,minimum,mean,andvariancevaluesforCOPmovementinthex-andy-directionaswellasfortheforcesappliedtotheboard.

RecentPlotCheckbox–Togglesthedisplayofthecursor inthe‘RecentPlot”graphicsview.Thecolorboxbeneathitallowstheusedtoalterthecoloroftherecentplotcursor.

ProportionalCheckbox–Causesthecursorontherecentplottochangeradiusproportionallywiththeamountofforceappliedtotheboard.

ShowHistoryCheckbox–Toggleson/offthedisplayofpreviouscursorlocationoncepreviousdatahasalreadybeenrecordedinthatchannel.

FadeColorCheckbox–Wheninrecordingmode,thecursorwillhaveatrailwhichfadesfromthecolorofthecursor(defaultgreen)tothefadecolor.Thedefaultcolorforfadeissetaswhite.

TimePlotCheckbox–Willtogglethedisplayon/offforthetimeplotwhichcanbeviewedbyclickingthe‘TimePlot’ tab to the rightof theplot. The three checkboxesbelowwill toggle the individualdatastreamsontheTimePloton/off,theyaretheCOPx-displacementthroughtime(x/t),theCOPy-displacementthroughtime(y/t)andtheforcethroughtime(f/t).Thecolorboxesacrossfrom these checkboxes change the color traces for these streamsand the scroll boxesbesidethemchangethelineweight.

Full Plot Checkbox – This toggles the Full Plot trace on/off. The Full Plot can be viewed only afterrecordingdatainthechannel,andisdisplayedunderthe‘FullPlot’tabtotherightoftheplotregion.

Cloning Channels for Data Comparison:

Cloningthechannelisanotherwayofsaying“copying’thechannel.Thefollowingstepsallowtheusertomakeacopythechannelinordertocompareasecondsetofdatathatwillberecordtothefirstsetofdatathathasalreadybeenrecorded.

1. Thenumberedtabsonthecontrolpanelarecalledchannels.Thedefaultchannelislabeled‘1’.Datacanonlyberecordedinchannel‘1’,butacopycanbemadeofthedatathathasalreadybeenrecordedsothatmoredatacanbecollectedwithoutlosinganypreviouslyrecordeddata.

2. Clickthe‘Clone’buttontomakeacopyofthechannel.Asecondtablabeled‘-1’totherightofthechannel‘1’tabwillappear,thisisthecopy,orclone,channel.

3. Inordertorecordnewdatawithoutviewingthedatathathasalreadybeencollected,un-checkthe checkboxes labeled ‘Show History’ and ‘Recent Plot’ in the copy channel which again islabeled‘-1’.Ensuretheactivetab istheoriginaldatastream,channel ‘1’,andnotthecopy; inthe copy channel the ‘Zero Sensors’ and ‘Record’ buttons are toggled off so they cannot beclickedon.

4. Clickthechannel‘1’tabtotakedataforasecondtrial.5. Clickthe‘Clear’button,thisclearsthechannel,newdatacannowbecollected.

Acclimation to Data Collection:

In order tobetter analyzehowvariousmanipulations can affect theCOP traces, it is oftenhelpful torecordthedataforcomparisoneitherwithintheBrainBLOXsoftware.

1. UseFigure4onthefollowingpagetohelpyounavigatePart1ofthisactivity.

OnthecomputerintheBrainBLOXsoftware,youshouldseeasmallgreencursorinthemiddleof thewhite screen.Steponeach the four cornersof theboardandwatch thecursoron thescreenmovetoeachrespectivecorner.Thecursorrepresentsthelocationofthecenterofmass(COM).

Thewhitescreenthatcomposesthe lefttwothirdsofthesoftware interface iscalledtheplotregion.Theplot regionhas four tabs,eachwithadifferentpresentationof thedata.The twotabsthatyouwillbeusingarethe‘RecentTrace’tabwhichdisplaysthereal-timeCOMlocation,andthe‘FullPlot’tabwhichdisplaystheentirehistoryofCOMshiftafterarecording.

Theright-mostthirdofthe interface iscalledthe‘ControlPanel’,thishousesallofthetogglesand controls that you will use to interact and manipulate data presentation. The collectivestreamofdatacomingfromtheWiiBalanceBoardisreferredtoasachannelofdata;becausewehaveoneBalanceBoardwehaveonechanneltorecorddata.

2. Check the box labeled “Proportional” in the Recording Panel on the right of the screen. ThecursorshouldincreaseinsizeasyoupushharderorbounceupanddownontheBalanceBoard,The changing radius indicates relative change in magnitude of weight pushing down on thebalanceboard.

3. TesttheWiiBalanceBoardfunctionality.Haveonepersonstandontheboard.

a. Movearoundandobservehowcursormoveswithweightshifts.

b. Changethe‘FadeColor’byclickingonthecolorblocktotherightofthe‘FadeColor’text(default color iswhite). A color selectionwindowwill appear; select a color and click‘OK’, this will close out the window and set the ‘Fade Color’ to the color of yourchoosing.

c. Press the ‘Record’ button and have a person shift theirweight around on the board.During recording you will notice the cursor now has a tail which will fade from thedefault green set for the ‘Recent Plot’ color to the ‘Fade Color’ you selected in theprevious step. The presence of this tailwill help you remember if you are or are notpresentlyrecording.Whenyouarefinishedhit‘Record’againtostop.

d. Clickthe‘FullTrace’tabontherightoftheplotregiontoviewthefulltraceoftheCOMmovementduringtherecording.

e. Hitthe‘ClearAll’buttonnearthetopofthecontrolpaneltoremoveallrecordings.

f. Click the ‘RecentTrace’ tabon the rightof theplot region to return to real-timedataobservation.

Figure4:AscreenshotoftheBrainBLOXcontrolpanelwithlabeledstepsfortheacclimationactivity

Saving and Reading Data:

AlthoughtherearemeanstographicallycomparethedatawithintheBrainBLOXsoftwareasdiscussedinthe“CloningChannelsforDataComparison”section,itisoftennecessaryormoreusefultotheusertoanalyzeorviewthedatainotherprograms,or,tosavedatarecordedintheprograminordertobeloadedbackintothesoftwareatafuturepointintime.

Saving Data

Tosaveanyrecordeddatafollowtheproceedingsteps.

1. To save the data in only the active channel click the ‘Save” button (below the ‘Zero Sensors’panel). Top save the data from all channels click the “Save All” button (near the top of thecontrolpanel).

2. Bothofthesefunctionswillbringupa‘Savefilename’window.Navigatewithinthewindowtoyour desired saving location. Type the filename in the white box near the bottom of thewindow,nofileextensionisneeded.Click‘Save’inthelowerright-handcornertosavethedataandclosethewindow.

Hint:Assignanametothedatafilethatindicateswhichdevicewasusedtorecordthedata,i.e.‘BalanceBoard1_trial01’.ThisisespeciallyhelpfulifyouareconnectingmultipledevicesbecausethedataisloadedbackintothesoftwaredifferentlyforBalanceBoarddataandWiimotedata.

Loading Data into BrainBLOX

Datacanbe loadedback into theBrainBLOXsoftware. Inorder todo thisNOFILEEXTENSIONcanbeattachedtothisfile.Assumingthefilewassavedwithoutanextensionitcanbeloadedbackinwiththefollowing steps. If a file extension has been added, rename the filewithout an extension first beforereloadingthedata.

1. Intheupperright-handcorneroftheBrainBLOXsoftwareinterface,clickonthe‘File’drop-downmenu.

2. Selecteither‘LoadBoardData’for loadingdatacollectedwiththeWiiBalanceBoard,or‘LoadAccelData’forloadingdatacollectedwiththeWiimotes.

3. Additionalchannelsofdatacanbeloaded,meaningthatmorethanonedatasetoronetypeofdatasetcanbeloadedatatime,eachdatasetwillappearasitsownchannel.Remember,likeclonedchannels,thesecannotbeusedtorecordnewdata.

Reading the Data

Thedataisautomaticallysavedasafilewithnoextension,andinordertoreadthedatawithanotherprogramitmusthaveanextension.YoucanreadthedataintoExcelmanually.

ToreadthedataintoExcelmanually,thefilemustbeopenedasa.csvorcommaseparatedvaluefile.MicrosoftExcelcanreadthistypeoffile.Usethefollowingstepstoopenthedatafilesasa.csvinMicrosoftExcel.

1. OpenMicrosoftExcel2. Navigate to the ‘Open’ function, this canbe foundeitherunder the ‘File’dropdownmenu in

olderversionsorthe‘File’ribboninthenewerversions.Followthedialogpromptstonavigatetothefile’slocation,selectthefile,andclick‘Open’.Ifthefileisnotvisibleinthelocationitwassavedin,ensurethatinthelowerrighthandcornerthewindowisdisplaying‘AllFiles’andnot‘AllExcelFiles’.

3. Adialogpromptwillappear, itreads“Thefileformatandextensionof‘filename’don’tmatch.Thefilecouldbecorruptedorunsafe.Unlessyoutrustitssource,don’topenit.Doyouwanttoopenitanyway?”Click‘Yes’,thiswillopenthe‘TextImportWizard’.

4. Twooptionsforreadingthedatawillappear,select‘Delimited’whichreadsthespacesinsertedbetweenthevaluesascolumnbreaks.Clickthe‘Next’button.

5. To read the data into the columns, select the check box for ‘Space’ as a delimiter, and click‘Next;.

6. Thefollowingscreenallowschangestothedatatypeineachcolumn.AllofthedatarecordedfromBrainBLOXisnumeric,sothedefaultgeneralsettingsareappropriate.Donotalterthesesettings,click‘Finish’.

7. Thedatashouldbe read intoExcelwitheightcolumns.Thekeybelow indicateswhichdata issavedinwhichcolumn.ColumnA:TimeinmillisecondselapsedsinceprogramwasopenedColumnB:Forcefromsensor1(topleft)inkilogramsColumnC:Forcefromsensor2(topright)inkilogramsColumnD:Forcefromsensor3(bottomleft)inkilogramsColumnE:Forcefromsensor4(bottomleft)inkilogramsColumnF:COPdistancefromcenterinthex-directionincentimetersColumnG:COPdistancefromcenterinthey-directionincentimetersColumnH:Totalforce(sumofcolumns2-5)inkilograms

Troubleshooting and FAQ’s:

Q:AfterconnectingmyNintendoWiidevice,uponopeningtheprogramIreceiveanerrormessagethatstates“Nobluetoothdongleconnected”despitethedeviceappearingconnectedin‘MyBluetoothDevices’.

A:Afterthebluetoothsoftwareconnectsthedevice,theoperatingsystemsearches,updates,andinstallsdriversforthedevice.Iftheconnectbuttonisreleasedbeforethiseventoccursthedevicedrivercaninstallincorrectlyornotatall,givingthiserrormessage.ClosetheBrainBLOXprogram,disconnectandthenreconnectthebluetoothdevice.Thistimebesuretoholddowntheconnectbuttonfor30secondsaftertheinitialbluetoothconnectionisestablished.