Speak with your eyes.
M2W (Mind to Words) is a free, browser-based assistive communication app for people who cannot speak or move, such as ALS patients. It connects to the Neuro PlayGround (NPG) Lite over Bluetooth and reads a single blink-detection channel from the forehead. A menu of everyday needs (Food, Help, Outing, Television, Washroom and Water) is navigated entirely with eye blinks, and the app speaks the selected need out loud.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Wireless | Connects to the NPG Lite over Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). |
| Blink-only control | Double blink to open and move through the menu, triple blink to select. No hands, mouse or keyboard needed. |
| 6 Need Categories | Food, Help, Outing, Television, Washroom and Water, each with its own spoken audio. |
| Spoken Feedback | Plays a sound for the selected need, so the person nearby hears it announced. |
| Light / Dark Theme | Switch between light and dark mode for comfortable viewing. |
| Zero Install | Runs entirely in the browser as a static web app. Nothing to download or set up. |
- A Chromium-based browser with Web Bluetooth support: Chrome, Edge, Brave, etc. On iOS, use a BLE-enabled browser such as Bluefy.
- NPG Lite (Explorer, Ninja or Beast pack), only 1 channel is needed.
- BioAmp snap cables and gel electrodes (2 for the signal, plus 1 reference)
- NuPrep skin preparation gel (optional) and alcohol swabs
- USB Type-C cable
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Turn on your NPG Lite using the power switch and make sure the battery is connected correctly.
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Connect the NPG Lite to your computer with the USB Type-C cable.
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Open NPG-Lite-Flasher-Web in a Chromium-based browser.
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Click Connect Device and select the USB device named USB JTAG.
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Once connected, click Get from GitHub to browse the available firmware.
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Select BCI-Blink-BLE.ino.bin from the list. This is the blink-detection firmware M2W needs.
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Click Flash Firmware and wait for it to finish uploading.
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Once you see Flash completed successfully!, disconnect the USB cable.
Good skin preparation gives a much cleaner signal.
- Clean the areas where the electrodes will go with an alcohol swab or wet wipe.
- For an even better signal, you can first apply a small amount of NuPrep skin preparation gel and then clean the skin.
- Let the skin dry before placing the electrodes.
Place the positive electrode (IN+, red) on the centre of your forehead, the negative electrode (IN-, black) behind one ear, and the reference electrode (REF, yellow) behind the other ear.
Connect the cables to Channel 1 on the NPG Lite: red to A0P, black to A0N, and yellow to REF.
Open M2W in your browser.
Turn on your NPG Lite and make sure Bluetooth is enabled on your computer or phone.
Click Connect at the top right of the app.
Select ESP32C6_EEG from the browser's Bluetooth pairing popup and click Pair.
Once connected, the status changes to Connected and you're ready to go.
The menu is controlled entirely with blinks, detected from the forehead electrode:
| Step | Gesture | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Connect | N/A | Connect to the NPG Lite as shown above. |
| Activate Menu | Double blink | Opens the menu and highlights the first option (Food). |
| Switch Option | Double blink | Moves the highlight to the next option, cycling through Food, Help, Outing, Television, Washroom and Water. |
| Select | Triple blink | Chooses the highlighted option. The app plays that need's spoken audio out loud and highlights it green until you move to another option or the menu closes. |
The menu also shows a Menu Active badge next to the connection status while it's open. If the device disconnects, the menu closes automatically.
Tip
While connected, you can also click a tile directly with a mouse or touch to hear its audio, which is useful for testing electrode placement and volume before relying on blinks alone.
M2W is built with Next.js, React and TypeScript, styled with Tailwind CSS, and talks to the NPG Lite using the browser's Web Bluetooth API. It's a static site with no backend, deployed on GitHub Pages.