Last Updated on June 5, 2026 by pg@petergamma.org
Since none of those did fit for my needs. During the last view years, I was reviewing devices which where not worth to buy and to build for me personally. But if I look back, there where every now and then a new project which was also interesting for me personally which was based on OpenBCI. As for instance:
An example which shows who to connect OpenBCI Cyton over the Bluetooth dongle to ESP32 to the Firebase Real-time Database (RTDB):
https://ocw.cs.pub.ro/courses/iothings/proiecte/2022/open_bci_esp32
Id did hardly find any alternative to OpenBCI for a physiologist who is looking for a low-cost high-quality multi-sensor device. An issue for me personally who is interested in fast gamma waves is the slow Bluetooth transmission.
There are many students who use OpenBCI, which I am not. And there are only view which stay there for a longer period of time. These are usually the device builders.
An issue for me personally is since a long time the lack of the OpenBCI Wifi shield. OpenBCI modules sold on Aliexpress seem to be faulty. But eventually it is worth to buy an OpenBCI Wifi shield from Aliexpress, and repair it.
There are many projects for instance with Home Assistant which is very alive. Many smartwatches where connected to Home Assistant.
Smartwatches are not very suitable for physiology, as well as Home Assistant. But the platform which can be used for physiology are very similar to Home Assistant. And there is life there. And it is worth to keep an eye on it.
Whereas looking for new developments for EEG devices up 50 000 USD is quiet frustrating. Hardy any news there.
And would not also make a fusion of OpenBCI with NeuroKit2 make sense?
For EEG devices, all channels have to be sampled at exactly the same time, since else some parameters such as phase, coherence cannot be calculated correctly. But how is it about slower signals such as ECG, spirometry, etc.? Is their timing not less critical and could be added separately to the 16 channels of OpenBCI, by adding Neurokit 2 to OpenBCI?