Proposal of a SSVEP-BCI to Command a Robotic Wheelchair
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Proposal of a SSVEP-BCI to Command a Robotic Wheelchair Sandra Mara Torres Müller · Teodiano Freire Bastos · Mário Sarcinelli Filho
Received: 29 March 2012 / Revised: 11 July 2012 / Accepted: 17 August 2012 / Published online: 26 February 2013 © Brazilian Society for Automatics–SBA 2013
Abstract This study proposes a Brain–Computer Interface (BCI) based on the Steady-State Visual Evoked Potential (SSVEP). This BCI can discriminate one out of four classes, once a second. Using such BCI, nine healthy volunteers were able to use the four classes with an average precision of 83 ± 15 %. Moreover, three of such volunteers were selected to guide a robotic wheelchair through an indoor environment using such BCI, and the result is that all of them were able to accomplish the proposed task. For that, four flickering visual stimuli were used and each one was associated to one of the BCI classes. Once a stimulus was observed, a command associated to it was identified and translated to a visual feedback or to a wheelchair command. The electroencephalogram signal of the volunteers was acquired and processed according to a feature extraction and a classification steps, leading to the identification of the stimulus the user gazed. Keywords
EEG · SSVEP-BCI · Robotic wheelchair
1 Introduction The human being can be distinguished from other species through his ability of communication. This communication can be defined as a process of expressing and sharing S. M. T. Müller (B) Departamento de Engenharia e Ciências Exatas, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo-UFES, Rodovia BR 101 Norte, Km. 60, Bairro Litorâneo, São Mateus-ES 29932-540, Brasil e-mail: [email protected] T. F. Bastos · M. S. Filho Departamento de Engenharia Elétrica, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo - UFES, Av. Fernando Ferrari, 514, Vitória-ES 29075-910, Brasil e-mail: [email protected] M. S. Filho e-mail: [email protected]
experiences among people, for which interfaces between a man and a machine has become a trend (Ebrahimi et al. 2003). Despite of the many technological innovations that have taken place in our era, the man-machine interaction has not advanced in the expected speed. The main items of this interaction remains being the keyboard and the mouse. However, some researches indicate that this interaction can be extended to other modalities, such as sight, touch, smell, and voice (Ebrahimi et al. 2003). Other solutions point to the source of our senses and emotions: the human brain. Although the capability of monitoring physiological processes, such as blood pressure or cardiac and muscular activities, is already well-established, it is still necessary a natural interface for brain monitoring, to allow a new modality of communication: the Brain–Computer Interfaces (BCIs). Many of the BCIs yet developed have a focus on improving the lives of people with disabilities. This may become a reality outside the world of research labs using a combination of BCIs with assistive technology (Millán et al. 2010). BCIs have been used successf
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