SmartChair — Research journal (EN)

Why I am starting a public research journal

Sat, 07 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0100

Research usually only becomes visible at the end, in a scientific paper that describes the result and almost never the road that led to it. I decided to do things differently.

What you will find here

Every journal entry has a type:

Update: where a research line stands.
Experiment: what I tried, how and why.
Result: what I measured, with the data available to everyone.
Note: notes, readings, reasoning.
Explainer: explanations for non-specialists.

Almost every entry is linked to one of my research lines. Each line has a page showing its current phase and next steps.

Why in public

Open science is not just publishing the code: it is making what you do understandable.

Working in public forces me to be clear and lets others correct me early. If you spot a mistake, write to me.

Who is Bones, the journal's scribe

Sat, 07 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0100

In some entries of this journal, next to my name, you will find a second author: Bones. Bones is not a person, and I think it is only fair to say so openly.

Who Bones is

Bones is an artificial intelligence (AI) agent based on Claude Code. I use it as a scientific scribe: I give it notes, numbers, ideas or a topic, and it turns them into a well-organised journal entry, in Italian and in English.

Its instructions are not a secret: they are a public text file in the website repository. Anyone can read the rules it follows.

Why it is called Bones

The name is a tribute to Star Trek. In the original series, Dr Leonard McCoy is the chief medical officer of the starship Enterprise, and everyone calls him “Bones”. The nickname comes from sawbones, an old English slang word for a surgeon.

McCoy is the doctor who always puts people first, even surrounded by the most advanced technology in the galaxy. He is blunt, a little sceptical, and not afraid to speak an uncomfortable truth. When he is asked to do something outside his job, he answers with his most famous line: “I’m a doctor, not a…”.

He seemed like the right companion for a project that uses technology to give people back their independence. And Bones, in its own way, knows exactly what it is not: it is a scribe, not the scientist. The decisions, the experiments and the data remain mine.

What it does

Bones works in two ways:

Transcription. I give it raw material, such as notes taken in the lab or a list of measurements, and it reorganises it into a readable entry. It can improve the form, not the substance.
Writing on a topic. I ask it for a text, for example an explainer on a type of brain signal. It looks for sources, checks them and writes an original summary.

The same applies to the pages of the research lines, such as SmartChair and Kite.

Why it is useful to the whole project

It makes open research sustainable. Documenting every step takes time, and that time is often taken away from the research itself. With Bones, writing an entry takes less effort, so I can describe the work while I do it, not only at the end.

Every entry exists in two languages. Bones writes the Italian version first and then a faithful English translation, with the same data and the same sources. This way the journal is also useful to people who do research or live with a disability outside Italy.

The language stays understandable. Bones spells out every acronym the first time it appears and uses short sentences and concrete examples. This is one of the principles of the journal: being understood by non-specialists too.

The integrity rules are written in black and white. Bones must never invent data, measurements or sources. If a piece of information is missing, it leaves a visible placeholder instead of filling the gap. It must separate established facts from my hypotheses, and report negative results as prominently as positive ones.

The format is always the same. Every entry has a type, a summary and links to the right research line. This keeps the journal tidy and updates the research pages automatically.

What Bones does not do

Bones never publishes anything on its own. I reread and correct every text it writes, and I decide whether and when to put it online. An artificial intelligence can make mistakes: the responsibility for what you read here remains mine.

For transparency, every entry written with its help lists it among the authors. If you spot a mistake, in one of my entries or in one of Bones’s, write to me.

What is a Brain Computer Interface, explained simply

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0200

A Brain Computer Interface (BCI) is a system that lets you control a device without using your muscles, starting from the activity of the brain.

1. The brain is electric

When neurons talk to each other they produce tiny electric currents. When millions of neurons work in sync, their signal becomes strong enough to be measured from the outside, on the scalp. This technique is called electroencephalography (EEG).

2. Listening to the signal

The electrodes of an EEG headset measure voltage differences of a few microvolts, that is, millionths of a volt. The signal is extremely faint and full of noise: eye blinks, jaw movements, the mains power in your home.

3. Recognising an intention

The heart of a BCI is the software that recognises recurring patterns in the signal. Some examples:

Paradigm	What the user does	What the software looks for
Motor imagery	Imagines moving a hand	Rhythm changes over the motor cortex
SSVEP	Looks at a flickering light	An oscillation at the same frequency
P300	Waits for a rare stimulus	A peak about 300 ms after the stimulus

4. From command to movement

Once the intention is recognised, the system sends a command to the device: a cursor, a virtual keyboard or, in SmartChair’s case, a powered wheelchair.

It is not mind reading

A BCI does not read your thoughts. It only recognises a small number of patterns that the user produces voluntarily after some training. It is a tool you learn to use, a bit like learning to drive.

In upcoming journal entries we will look at each of these steps in detail.