Melon EEG Headband Tracks Mental Focus

We’re used to tracking our activity all the time: our heart rate, breathing rate, temperature and so on. There are so many gadgets out there that can monitor our physical activity and workout routine, and we recently took a look at one wristband tracker that also monitors your sleeping habits.

So what about a device that can monitor our brain as well? This is exactly what this new gizmo, the Melon EEG headband, does: it monitors the wearer’s brain waves and mental focus.

The main goal of the Melon headband is to monitor mental focus and help users improve it. By constantly monitoring brain activity in the left prefrontal cortex, the headband will show wearers how strong their mental focus is at different times a day and based on a number of factors such as hunger, weather conditions, how much sleep they had and so on.

The EEG headband is equipped with three electrodes, a NeuroSky electroencephalography chip that is designed to filter out electrical noise and a Bluetooth 4.0 connection that allows users to download the data on their brain activity wirelessly.

The data is sent to a device that runs the accompanying Melon app, which allows users to chart and store the information, cross-referenced with contextual details, such as the time of day when the measurement was made and any outside conditions that may have influenced brain activity. By storing and comparing this information, the wearer will be able to determine when their mental focus is stronger or weaker.

The application also gives suggestions on how to improve mental focus and provides users with a game designed to increase their mental powers. For the time being, the Melon app only runs on iPhones, but there are plans to make it available for Android in the next couple of months. Developers are also planning a free SDK that would allow users to create their own applications for the Melon platform.

The project was first announced last summer as Axio, but since then, it has been rebranded as Project Melon and is now up for crowdfunding on Kickstarter. The campaign has already surpassed its $100,000 goal and all those who pledge at least $100 will receive the headband and the accompanying app.

[Images via Kickstarter]