Chapter 10 - Hybrid brain–computer interfaces for wheelchair control: a review of existing solutions, their advantages and open challenges

Abstract

Over the last decade, the number of brain–computer interface (BCI) techniques and applications has been steadily increasing. Attempts to bring these tools outside of the lab, however, has shown great limitations with existing solutions showing poor performance in terms of efficiency and usability. Within this context, hybrid brain–computer interfaces (hBCI) have been explored to merge different brain and body monitoring methods to achieve more accurate and comprehensive systems. State-of-the-art hBCI systems are discussed, with particular emphasis on wheelchair control applications. We first introduce the basic concepts of an hBCI, then list methods for recording different neural responses and how they interact within an hBCI paradigm, as well as provide existing hBCI categorizations. Next, we present and discuss existing applications and their advantages and disadvantages, and conclude with a discussion on the future challenges of hBCIs, hoping this exploration stimulates BCI researchers and smart wheelchairs developers to come together and accelerate the development of brain–controlled wheelchairs that are reliable, multipurpose, and easy to control.