A small, portable, battery-powered brain-computer interface system for motor rehabilitation

Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2016 Aug:2016:2776-2779. doi: 10.1109/EMBC.2016.7591306.

Abstract

Motor rehabilitation using brain-computer interface (BCI) systems may facilitate functional recovery in individuals after stroke or spinal cord injury. Nevertheless, these systems are typically ill-suited for widespread adoption due to their size, cost, and complexity. In this paper, a small, portable, and extremely cost-efficient (<;$200) BCI system has been developed using a custom electroencephalographic (EEG) amplifier array, and a commercial microcontroller and touchscreen. The system's performance was tested using a movement-related BCI task in 3 able-bodied subjects with minimal previous BCI experience. Specifically, subjects were instructed to alternate between relaxing and dorsiflexing their right foot, while their EEG was acquired and analyzed in real-time by the BCI system to decode their underlying movement state. The EEG signals acquired by the custom amplifier array were similar to those acquired by a commercial amplifier (maximum correlation coefficient ρ=0.85). During real-time BCI operation, the average correlation between instructional cues and decoded BCI states across all subjects (ρ=0.70) was comparable to that of full-size BCI systems. Small, portable, and inexpensive BCI systems such as the one reported here may promote a widespread adoption of BCI-based movement rehabilitation devices in stroke and spinal cord injury populations.

MeSH terms

  • Brain-Computer Interfaces*
  • Cost-Benefit Analysis
  • Electric Power Supplies*
  • Electroencephalography
  • Equipment Design*
  • Humans
  • Recovery of Function
  • Spinal Cord Injuries / rehabilitation*
  • Stroke
  • Stroke Rehabilitation*