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Videos with applications of brain-computer interface (BCI)

Videos of some experiments with different BCIs (communication spellers and control of a robotic wheelchair). See publications for details


BCI for communication with CLIS patients

BCI designed for people in Completely Locked-in State (CLIS). The interface combines visual and auditory stimuli. See implementation details at [link]


RL-based Emotional Facial Expression BCI (RL-EFP)

Brain-Computer Interface as a serious game for cognitive training of people with Autism Spectrum Disorders. An Intelligent Agent learns two rules through Reinforcement Learning (RL) using Error-related Potentials (ErrP) for reward (green bar). See implementation details at: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1741-2552/aca798 (open access)


Lateral single-character speller (LSC) communication speller

LSC is a P300-based BCI that minimizes some negative effects of the standard row-column speller such as distractors, eyestrain, high target probability (see publications). Moreover, thanks to the events strategy and layout, there are new neurophysiologic features with discrimination power. The video shows an able-bodied participant spelling the portuguese sentence "Bom dia a todos" around 10 symbols per minute. This BCI has been tested by participants with motor disabilities, namely, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, cerebral palsy, Duchenne muscular distrophy and spinal cord injury. See implementation details here [link]


Gaze Independent Block Speller (GIBS) communication speller

GIBS is a P300-based brain-computer interface (BCI) that allows to select letters with minimal (or none) gaze shifts. GIBS requires a 2-level selection. The central letters are in the fovea region, therefore user perceives the target without gazing. Small blocks are outside the fovea region, but user only needs to know in which block is the letter. Thus, the percepetion of the target-block stimulus is independent of gaze. EOG is being monitored to detect eye movements. See implementation details here  [link]


Row-column communication speller

Video of two participants with motor disabilities (cerebral palsy and Duchenne muscular distrophy) controlling the row-column speller. The sentences are in portuguese, respectively, "Parabens APCC" and "Estou a escrever".


Brain-actuated wheelchair (RobChair 1.0)

Brain-actuated wheelchair using a P300-based BCI. Pilot experiments with an able-bodied user in the wheelchair and a participant with cerebral palsy controlling remotely the wheelchair (due to ergonomic and confort constraints). Shared-control system: the wheelchair navigates in pre-defined trajectories and accepts brain commands only in decision points (e.g., bifurcations, dynamic obstacles) . The inputs from the user are steering directions such as "left", "forward", "right", etc. See implementation details here [link]


Brain-actuated wheelchair (RobChair 2.0)

Collaborative control system: RobChair is controlled with a P300-based BCI in a self-paced mode (participant only conveys commands when he/she wants to). Navigation system performs manoeuvres in narrow spaces. The inputs from the user are steering directions such as "left", "forward", "right", etc. See implementation details in [link]

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Ongoing research

Increasing the USABILITY of BCIs for COMMUNICATION AND CONTROL (target population: individuals with severe motor limitations):

- Design and implementation of new P300 visual paradigms searching for new neurophysiological features
- Design and implementation of gaze independent P300 visual paradigms

- Hybrid Interfaces combining differetn types of stimulation (e.g., visual + auditory)

- Multimodal interfaces: Fusion of EEG, EOG, EMG and inertial sensing

- Self-paced control operation
- One-time calibration / zero time calibration
- Development of signal processing methods for feature extraction based on statistical spatial filters and spatio-spectral filters

- Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS)

- Applications: communiction spellers, icon selection, control of a robotic wheelchair, game control
- Evaluation of BCI by motor disabled end-users (Locked-in (LIS) and completetely Locked-in patients (CLIS), cerebral palsy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Duchenne muscular distrophy, spinal cord injury). 

Cognitive training for people with spectrum of autism disorder:

- Design BCI paradigms aiming to improve social skills