Brain-computer interfacing sounds like science fiction sometimes. Using human thoughts to control a machine has a lot of real-world applications, though, especially for people with disabilities. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers published papers exploring some of the possibilities in a special June issue of the Proceedings of the IEEE, focusing on the line between the physical and the digital wrodls.
The articles in this issue, the complete table of contents for which can be found here, cover a variety of applications for cutting-edge brain-computer interfaces (BCI).
A sensory-rhythm based BCI proposed by a University of Minnesota team, lead by Brian He of the IEEE, could be an alternative to physiological motor pathways, enabling the natural brain to communicate with digital devices. These devices could be controlled through the user imagining moving their own hands, which would translate to control of a device or drone. The drones would need to be able to makes sure its speed and the direction it receives were possible within physical bounds, so there might be a necessity for systems that “share” control, with the user directing the drone and the drone using its own intelligence to follow safety measures.
This paper also includes discussion of meditation as a method with which to generate consistent and reliable EEG patterns, allowing those patterns to be distinguished more easily by machine interfaces.
Another paper, by an international team from Korea and Germany, covers data fusion techniques for sensorimotor rhythm-based BCI. Data fusion techniques could be used to solve some of the challenges facing BCI at present, including low signal-to-noise ratio, the variability of subjects and trials, and the ability to integrate multiple sessions and multiple subjects.
Medical applications for BCI are also being explored. Particularly, a paper about using BCI to help people with severe motor disabilities to navigate telepresence robots, also put together by an international team, discusses how to allow users to control complex prosthetics or robotic devices. These real-world applications include wheelchairs and drones, as well as telepresence robots equipped with Skype connections and obstacle detection.
This special issue of the publication can be accessed at the IEEE.
