Abstract
Brain-computer interface (BCI) is a novel human-computer interaction model, which does not depend on the conventional output pathway (peripheral nerve and muscle tissue). In the past three decades, it has attracted the interest of researchers and gradually become a research hotspot. As a typical BCI application, the brain-controlled wheelchair (BCW) could provide a new communicating channel with the external environment for physically disabled people. However, the main challenge of BCW is how to decode multi-degree of freedom control instruction from electroencephalogram (EEG) as soon as possible. The research progress of BCW has been developed rapidly over the past fifteen years. In this review, we investigate the BCW from multiple perspectives, include the type of signal acquisition, the pattern of commands for the control system and the working mechanism of the control system. Furthermore, we summarize the development trend of BCW based on the previous investigation, and it is mainly manifested in three aspects: from a wet electrode to dry electrode, from single-mode to multi-mode, and from synchronous control to asynchronous control. With the continuous development of BCW, we also find new functions have been introduced into BCW to increase its stability and robustness. It is believed that BCW will be able to enter the real-life from the laboratory and will be widely used in rehabilitation medicine in the future.
Highlights
In amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the degenerated motor neurons contribute to a slow decrease in motor function of muscles [1]
HYBRID MODAL BASED brain-controlled wheelchair (BCW) According to the previous description, we found that more research teams were keen to use motor imagery (MI) as the control signal of the BCW relative to P300 and state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP), because MI did not need to be induced by external stimulus
Pfurtscheller et al believe that in addition to a simple braincomputer interface (BCI) combination, hybrid braincomputer interface (hBCI) types need to meet the following four criteria [138]: (1) The activity is obtained directly from the brain; (2) At least one of a variety of brain signal collection methods should be used to obtain this activity, which may be in the form of electrical potential, magnetic field or hemodynamic changes; (3) Signals must be processed in real-time/online to establish communication between the brain and the computer to generate control commands; (4) Brain activity results must be provided for communication and feedback control
Summary
In amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the degenerated motor neurons contribute to a slow decrease in motor function of muscles [1]. Pfurtscheller et al believe that in addition to a simple BCI combination, hBCI types need to meet the following four criteria [138]: (1) The activity is obtained directly from the brain; (2) At least one of a variety of brain signal collection methods should be used to obtain this activity, which may be in the form of electrical potential, magnetic field or hemodynamic changes; (3) Signals must be processed in real-time/online to establish communication between the brain and the computer to generate control commands; (4) Brain activity results must be provided for communication and feedback control. The paper [16] presented a new shared-control approach based on P300, which allowed the selection of brain-actuated commands to steer a robotic wheelchair In such a BCW, at least one specific motor skill, such as the control of arms, legs, head or voice, was required to operate a conventional HMI. By carrying out experiments and analysis, accelerating the speed of signal acquisition and processing, and improving the classification accuracy and the system’s usability can asynchronous BCW reach the degree of practicality
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