The MindSet Development Tools are a set of software tools that make it easy to create innovative applications that can respond to a user's brainwaves and mental state
Interested in publishing your application? Get in touch with us. Looking for help with your MindSet? Try the NeuroSky Support Site.

How can I use the MindSet Development Tools?

The MindSet Development Tools contain a number of ways for developers to integrate brainwave-sensing functionality into existing programs, or to create new ones from scratch.

ThinkGear Communications Driver

  • Ideal for C / C++ / C# / Objective-C
  • Windows and OS X shared libraries (.dll and .bundle)
  • Easy-to-use API

The ThinkGear Communications Driver (TGCD) is a native Windows and OS X library that handles all the "heavy lifting" of interacting with a MindSet, from setting up the connection to interpreting the data stream received from the MindSet. The API exposed by TGCD is extremely simple.

TGCD is distributed as a .dll (for Windows) and a .bundle (for OS X), making it suitable for applications written in C or C derivatives (i.e. C++, C#, or Objective-C).

ThinkGear Connector

  • Ideal for scripting languages like Flash / Python / Ruby
  • Windows and OS X executables
  • Uses socket APIs
  • Headset-less development mode

The ThinkGear Connector (TGC) is a software program - analogous to a socket server - that runs as a background process on your computer and is responsible for directing MindSet data from the serial port to an open network socket. It is available on both Windows and OS X. Any language or framework that contains a socket library should be able to communicate with it. TGC is an ideal option for developers working in frameworks like Adobe Flash.

TGC also contains a "Headset-less mode" of operation, enabling developers without MindSets to get a head-start on integrating brainwave-sensing capabilities into their applications.

MindSet Communications Protocol

  • Ideal for microcontroller projects, e.g., Arduino-based kits
  • Allows for development on platforms with Bluetooth SPP access
  • ANSI C source code for a full parser

For developers who want to integrate MindSet functionality in an embedded environment or for those developers who want to delve into the inner workings of the data stream transmitted by the MindSet, the MDT includes full documentation of the MindSet's communications protocol, as well as the ANSI C source code for an implementation of its packet parser. Developers can drop this source code into their projects without having to worry about their compilation environments.