A sim-racing headset concept built around galvanic vestibular stimulation. I built the bench prototype that turns live game telemetry into a controlled current.
Role
Co-founder, bench hardware and firmware
When
Jul 2026 to now
Stage
Bench prototype
Stack
XIAO ESP32-S3, analog circuits, firmware
Concept render
~70live game telemetry fields read on the board
±18 Vsplit battery supply, each rail verified
Aug 2026bidirectional current source working on the bench
The problem
In sim racing your eyes see the corner but your balance feels nothing. Galvanic vestibular stimulation applies a small current behind the ears that acts on the balance system. The engineering problem is driving that current from the game in real time, from hardware that is controlled and measurable.
A decision I made
Safety lives in hardware: a floating battery supply, designed with a mechanical kill switch, not a firmware abort, because firmware can hang.
What I built
Read Gran Turismo 7 telemetry live over UDP on a XIAO ESP32-S3, and checked the ~70-field packet map against the in-game HUD.
A ±18 V split supply from a floating 9 V battery stack, verified per rail.
The TL072 op-amp power stage, decoupled on both rails.
Filtered PWM from the board into a Howland current source that drives current in both directions on the bench.
Concept render
