A Robust Low-Cost EEG Motor Imagery-Based Brain-Computer Interface

Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2018 Jul:2018:5089-5092. doi: 10.1109/EMBC.2018.8513429.

Abstract

Motor imagery (MI) based Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) are a viable option for giving locked-in syndrome patients independence and communicability. BCIs comprising expensive medical-grade EEG systems evaluated in carefully-controlled, artificial environments are impractical for take-home use. Previous studies evaluated low-cost systems; however, performance was suboptimal or inconclusive. Here we evaluated a low-cost EEG system, OpenBCI, in a natural environment and leveraged neurofeedback, deep learning, and wider temporal windows to improve performance. $\mu-$rhythm data collected over the sensorimotor cortex from healthy participants performing relaxation and right-handed MI tasks were used to train a multi-layer perceptron binary classifier using deep learning. We showed that our method outperforms previous OpenBCI MI-based BCIs, thereby extending the BCI capabilities of this low-cost device.

MeSH terms

  • Brain-Computer Interfaces*
  • Electroencephalography*
  • Humans
  • Imagery, Psychotherapy
  • Imagination
  • Neurofeedback