Study of an EEG based brain machine interface system for controlling a robotic arm

Abstract

We present a methodology to explore the capabilities of an existing interface for controlling a robotic arm with information extracted from brainwaves. Brainwaves are collected through the use of an Emotiv EPOC headset. The headset utilizes electroencephalography (EEG) technology to collect active brain signals. We employ the Emotiv software suites to classify the thoughts of a subject representing specific actions. The system then sends an appropriate signal to a robotic interface to control the robotic arm. We identified several actions for mapping, implemented these chosen actions, and evaluated the system's performance. We also present the limitations of the proposed system and provide groundwork for future research.