Noninvasive brain-actuated control of a mobile robot by human EEG

• Published in: IEEE transactions on biomedical engineering Vol. 51; no. 6; pp. 1026 - 1033
• Main Authors: Millan, Jd.R., Renkens, F., Mourino, J., Gerstner, W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.06.2004; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Algorithms; Cerebral Cortex - physiology; Cognition - physiology; Control systems; Cybernetics - methods; Electrodes; Electroencephalography; Electroencephalography - methods; Evoked Potentials - physiology; Human factors; Humans; Infrared sensors; Mobile robots; Pattern Recognition, Automated; Protocols; Reproducibility of Results; Robot control; Robotics - methods; Scalp; Sensitivity and Specificity; Spatial resolution; Task Performance and Analysis
• ISSN: 0018-9294; 1558-2531; 1558-2531
• DOI: 10.1109/TBME.2004.827086

Brain activity recorded noninvasively is sufficient to control a mobile robot if advanced robotics is used in combination with asynchronous electroencephalogram (EEG) analysis and machine learning techniques. Until now brain-actuated control has mainly relied on implanted electrodes, since EEG-based systems have been considered too slow for controlling rapid and complex sequences of movements. We show that two human subjects successfully moved a robot between several rooms by mental control only, using an EEG-based brain-machine interface that recognized three mental states. Mental control was comparable to manual control on the same task with a performance ratio of 0.74.