Playing the piano pedal with your head — inside the bFaaaP Open Source Project

Contents

• What is bFaaaP?
• How does it work? (AR × BLE)
• The device line-up (Pro / Switch)
• Build your own — open source
• Patents & licensing
• 🎬 All the demo videos

What is bFaaaP?

bFaaaP is an AI piano-assist pedal system that lets players with limb differences, small children and the elderly enjoy the piano's sustained, "singing" notes. An iPhone propped on the music stand detects the player's head tilt with AI and uses that signal to operate the piano's sustain pedal.

How does it work? (AR × BLE)

1. The iPhone camera (ARKit) detects the up/down angle of your head in real time
2. Crossing a preset threshold means "pedal ON"; returning means "pedal OFF"
3. That signal is sent to a small device over BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy)
4. The device operates the piano's pedal — sustain without using your feet!

When the screen is red the pedal is ON; back to white (black) and it's OFF. Intuitive.

The device line-up (Pro / Switch)

• bFaaaP Switch: plugs into the sustain-pedal jack of electric pianos & keyboards
• bFaaaP Pro: a more full-featured build that presses an acoustic piano's pedal
• A single iOS app supports both Pro and Switch (available on the App Store).

A note on the name: The official name for the bFaaaP Switch is the "AI Barrier-Free Piano Assist Pedal System bFaaaP Switch (for electronic pianos)." The "Switch" refers to the fact that it plugs into the pedal jack of an electronic piano like a toggle switch, and has no relation whatsoever to the Nintendo Switch game console.

Inside the device: an Adafruit ItsyBitsy nRF52840 Express board + an LED + a 3D-printed enclosure. Surprisingly simple.

Build your own — open source

The build instructions, design and controller code are published on GitHub as an open-source project. Anyone can copy, improve and contribute. If you enjoy soldering or 3D printing, build your own bFaaaP!

👉 GitHub repository: https://github.com/TomoShishido/bfaaap_opensource

Patents & licensing

bFaaaP's R&D results are also protected as intellectual property.

• Patents No. 6726319 (assist-pedal system) / No. 7004771 (device controller) / PCT WO2019176164
• Trademark No. 6187860 (bFaaaP)
• For the open-source release, we plan to use a three-tiered license structure: Apache-2.0 for software, CERN-OHL-W-2.0 for hardware, and CC-BY-4.0 for documentation. We welcome personal builds, improvements, and non-commercial use (please contact us separately for commercial use).

🎬 All the demo videos

Seeing it in action is the easiest way to understand. Start with whichever interests you:

• ▶ Suzukake Science Day 2025, Institute of Science Tokyo (with the Platanus group): https://youtu.be/V3cXeNW9jXY
• ▶ Int'l Home Care & Rehabilitation Exhibition HCR 2021 (overview, setup, operation, live demo): https://youtu.be/jYLC7Hreovc
• ▶ bFaaaP technical introduction (how the control works): https://youtu.be/6_y9MI1IdTQ
• ▶ Performance demo: https://youtu.be/iyRqPa8TLgE

bFaaaP is a project about never giving up on music. With your hands — and your head — a freer piano.
Questions, or want to take part? Reach us on GitHub or via Support.