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Proposal of a SSVEP-BCI to Command a Robotic Wheelchair

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Abstract

This study proposes a Brain–Computer Interface (BCI) based on the Steady-State Visual Evoked Potential (SSVEP). This BCI can discriminate one out of four classes, once a second. Using such BCI, nine healthy volunteers were able to use the four classes with an average precision of 83 \(\pm \) 15 %. Moreover, three of such volunteers were selected to guide a robotic wheelchair through an indoor environment using such BCI, and the result is that all of them were able to accomplish the proposed task. For that, four flickering visual stimuli were used and each one was associated to one of the BCI classes. Once a stimulus was observed, a command associated to it was identified and translated to a visual feedback or to a wheelchair command. The electroencephalogram signal of the volunteers was acquired and processed according to a feature extraction and a classification steps, leading to the identification of the stimulus the user gazed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Engenharia e Ciências Exatas, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo-UFES, Rodovia BR 101 Norte, Km. 60, Bairro Litorâneo, São Mateus-ES, 29932-540, Brasil

    Sandra Mara Torres Müller

  2. Departamento de Engenharia Elétrica, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo - UFES, Av. Fernando Ferrari, 514, Vitória-ES, 29075-910, Brasil

    Teodiano Freire Bastos & Mário Sarcinelli Filho

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  1. Sandra Mara Torres Müller
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  2. Teodiano Freire Bastos
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  3. Mário Sarcinelli Filho
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Correspondence to Sandra Mara Torres Müller.

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Müller, S.M.T., Bastos, T.F. & Filho, M.S. Proposal of a SSVEP-BCI to Command a Robotic Wheelchair. J Control Autom Electr Syst 24, 97–105 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40313-013-0002-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40313-013-0002-9

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