NeuroScent

Mental well-being with immersive scent, vision, and biofeedback.

• Devpost
• Video
• OpenBCI Blog Feature

Overview

1. Project Setup
2. Software
3. Hardware
4. Acknowledgements
5. Contact Us

Project Setup

Prerequisites – Before we get started, make sure to install the following:

1. Unity Hub
2. Unity Editor
   • Version 2022.3.56f1 LTS
     • Visual Studio Community 2022
     • Windows Build Support (IIL2CPP)
     • WebGL Build Support
3. Arduino IDE
4. Visual Studio IDE
   • Version 2022 (Community Edition)
5. Galea GUI

Software

1. Clone the GitHub Repo with CLI or GitHub Desktop

   1. Set up a License and README file
   2. Select the Unity .gitignore file
   3. Initialize Git LFS (if you intend to develop this project with others using version control)

2. Open the Project via Unity Hub

   1. Open Unity Hub → Add → select the cloned repository (root directory) → Add Project
      1. It’s recommended that all collaborators use the same version of Unity! Please refer above for the version that we used.

3. OpenBCI's Galea Setup

   • The Galea private software downloads are accessible to Galea owners via http://portal.galea.co/docs
   1. Install the Galea GUI
   2. Install the OpenBCI SDK
      1. In the Unity Editor with the project open, navigate to Package Manager
      2. Click + and then select Add Package from tarbell
      3. Select your local download of the OpenBCI SDK (.tgz file) to add it to the project
   3. Configure Unity project for OpenBCI Galea:
      1. Navigate to Project Folder → Packages → OpenBCI SDK
      2. Select the Galea (Beta) prefab → drag and drop into Project Hierarchy
      • If prompted to install TMP Essentials: Click Yes, delete Galea (Beta) prefab, then drag and drop Galea (Beta) prefab into Project Hierarchy again

4. Varjo Setup

   • It was recommended to use the Varjo XR Plugin (also referred to as the 'Unity XR SDK' for Varjo) via their online documentation
   1. Install the Varjo XR Plugin
      1. In the Unity Editor with the project open, navigate to Package Manager
      2. Click + and then select Add Package from git URL
      3. Enter the git URL to add the SDK to the project: https://github.com/varjocom/VarjoUnityXRPlugin.git
   2. Configure Unity project for Varjo Aero (the head-mounted display used in our version of the Galea Beta):
      1. Navigate to Edit → Project Settings → XR Plugin Management
         1. Enable Varjo
         2. Navigate to Varjo (within XR Plugin Management) -> enable Opaque (since we're not using mixed reality passthrough i.e. the Varjo XR-3)

Hardware

• Our NeuroScent system provides multi-modal biofeedback with multi-sensory immersion via vision (Varjo Aero HMD) and smell (Project Nebula). Below is a summarized outline of all of the hardware components:
• Biofeedback – OpenBCI Galea (which features PPG, EMG, EEG, EDA, EEG biosensors)
  • In NeuroScent's current version (as seen at MIT Reality Hack 2025), we only integrated PPG (heart rate), EMG (facial muscle movement), and EEG (non-invasive BCI with dry electrodes) – but the system's logic could be adapted to other sensing capaibilities
• Vision – Varjo Aero (VR-only head-mounted display)
• Smell – Project Nebula (olfactory display as seen at IEEE VR 2024)

Olfactory Display Fabrication

• Please view this documentation that Ashley Neall created with the guidance of Sophie Villenave – one of the Project Nebula authors. Project Nebula is a cartridge-based olfactory display project that was demoed to Ashley at IEEE VR 2024. We also highly recommend to read through this paper from VRST 2022.
• We recreated Project Nebula with limited supplies during the span of MIT Reality Hack 2025 (which is a 3-day hackathon), so we highly recommend looking at the documentation above. We will add additional information (e.g. STL files, Arduino code, updated wiring diagram) as soon as we can.

Acknowledgements

Olfactory Display Literature

• Nebula: An Affordable Open-Source and Autonomous Olfactory Display for VR Headsets
  • GitHub Repo

Brain-Computer Interfacing Literature

• [will be added soon]

3D Assets

• Low Poly Mountain Free by Poly Craftsman
  • Used for background mountain scenery
• Remaining assets modeled and/or generated with Unity built-in procedural features by our team

Contact Us

• Ashley Neall
• Peter He
• Kriti Gupta
• Grace Jin
• Ximing Luo