Towards restoration and rehabilitation of motor functions with the help of brain-computer interfaces

Abstract

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) establish a direct link between a human brain and a computer. The original goal of a BCI is to help persons with motor disabilities by installing a non-muscular communication channel. This work presents ongoing research and current developments at the Graz BCI-Lab, Institute for Knowledge Discovery (Graz University of Technology, Austria) towards the inclusion of BCI for restoration and rehabilitation of motor functions. Our group researches and develops applications of non-invasive BCIs based on the electroencephalogram (EEG), using a reduced set of electrodes, and relying on the event-related (de)synchronization of sensorimotor rhythms. Our results demonstrate both the feasibility and possible utility of incorporating BCI technology into clinical practice.