The use of a brain computer interface remote control to navigate a recreational device

Abstract

People suffering from paralysis caused by serious neural disorder or spinal cord injury also need to be given a means of recreation other than general living aids. Although there have been a proliferation of brain computer interface (BCI) applications, developments for recreational activities are scarcely seen. The objective of this study is to develop a BCI-based remote control integrated with commercial devices such as the remote controlled Air Swimmer. The brain is visually stimulated using boxes flickering at preprogrammed frequencies to activate a brain response. After acquiring and processing these brain signals, the frequency of the resulting peak, which corresponds to the user's selection, is determined by a decision model. Consequently, a command signal is sent from the computer to the wireless remote controller via a data acquisition (DAQ) module. A command selection training (CST) and simulated path test (SPT) were conducted by 12 subjects using the BCI control system and the experimental results showed a recognition accuracy rate of 89.51% and 92.31% for the CST and SPT, respectively. The fastest information transfer rate demonstrated a response of 105 bits/min and 41.79 bits/min for the CST and SPT, respectively. The BCI system was proven to be able to provide a fast and accurate response for a remote controller application. © 2013 Shih Chung Chen et al.