Page 132 - Handbook of Biomechatronics

CHAPTER FIVE

Biomechatronic Applications

of Brain-Computer Interfaces

Domen Novak
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, United States

Contents

1 BCI Modalities and Signals 130
1.1 Electroencephalography 130
1.2 Electrocorticography and Intracortical Electrodes 139
1.3 Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy 140
1.4 Combining Multiple Sensor Types 142
2 Biomechatronic Applications 144
2.1 Control of Powered Wheelchairs 144
2.2 Control of Mobile Robots and Virtual Avatars 146
2.3 Control of Artificial Limbs 149
2.4 Restoration of Limb Function After Spinal Cord Injury 150
2.5 Communication Devices 151
2.6 BCI-Triggered Motor Rehabilitation 154
2.7 Adaptive Automation in Cases of Drowsiness and Mental Overload 155
2.8 Task Difficulty Adaptation Based on Mental Workload 157
2.9 Error-Related Potentials in Biomechatronic Systems 160
3 Challenges and Outlook 163
3.1 Improving User Friendliness and Resistance to Environmental Conditions 164
3.2 Interindividual Differences 164
3.3 Training Regimens and User-BCI Coadaptation 165
3.4 Comparison to Other Control Methods 166
3.5 Outlook 167
Acknowledgment 168
References 168

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), which measure a human’s brain activity
and use it to control machines, have nearly limitless potential in
biomechatronics. Indeed, such biomechatronic applications of BCIs have
been a staple of science fiction for decades: BCIs were used to connect to
the Matrix in the 1999 movie of the same name, they were used by a par-
alyzed Captain Pike to control his wheelchair in a 1966 episode of Star Trek,

Handbook of Biomechatronics © 2019 Elsevier Inc. 129
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