Have you ever heard of a Ghost Hand? Or did you ever wonder how blood pressure monitors work? Or perhaps dreamt of building your own robot one day? What if you could feel your brain constructing reality in real time?
The answer to these questions, among many others, can be found at Backyard Brains’ workshops at the ARC, in Ložionica.
Backyard Brains’ OpenLab Program explores the brain and body through interactive experiments and technology. This four-workshop series introduces the basics of neuroscience and bioelectronics, teaching you how to capture signals from muscles, the brain, and even plants while developing your own mini-projects. Over a month, the same group of 15 high school students will discover how to record EMG and EEG signals, use them for simple visualizations and control lights or sounds, and turn small experimental ideas into working prototypes, while implementing new knowledge of using SpikerBox devices, and Arduino programming. Mentor Jovan Lazarević will creatively guide the participants through the entire process, from idea to functional prototype.
Did you ever wish to have your own WALL-E? Well, you are so lucky, because on the How to Build Your First Robot program you will go through the whole process of building a real robot – from the initial idea to a small functional robot that can be controlled using a laptop, joystick, or ROS system. Your mentor, Miloš Rašić, will guide you through this creative process by combining theoretical foundations with practical exercises, including electronics, mechanics, CAD modeling, 3D printing, and programming. By the end of the series, every participant will have a functional robot ready for control and experimentation. The workshops are designed for students who are new to the world of robotics.
In Hands-On Experiments With Your Own Mind workshop, you’ll step inside the strange illusions that reveal how consciousness works. Using only simple tools, we’ll trick the brain into believing your nose is growing, show how your body map can be bent and stretched, and explore online experiments that prove we unconsciously sense eye gaze as a real force. By the end, you won’t just understand the science of consciousness — you’ll have experienced it yourself. Neuroscientist Greg Gage will guide you through experiments such as The Pinocchio Illusion, Arms Through the Floor, Online Attention Tasks and The Eyes Effect. Want to see it on your own and understand how your mind works changes how you see yourself? Join us – no matter if you are a student, educator, technologist, or simply curious, this workshop is for everybody!
Curious to find out more? Backyard Brains has new programs upcoming at the ARC, so make sure you stay updated by following them on Instagram (@backyardbrains) and check out their website to fill out that application form.
