Teodiano Bastos-Filho

Human-machine interfaces based on EMG and EEG applied to robotic systems

BackgroundTwo different Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs) were developed, both based on electro-biological signals. One is based on the EMG signal and the other is based on the EEG signal. Two major features of such interfaces are their relatively simple data acquisition and processing systems, which need just a few hardware and software resources, so that they are, computationally and financially speaking, low cost solutions. Both interfaces were applied to robotic systems, and their performances are analyzed here. The EMG-based HMI was tested in a mobile robot, while the EEG-based HMI was tested in a mobile robot and a robotic manipulator as well.ResultsExperiments using the EMG-based HMI were carried out by eight individuals, who were asked to accomplish ten eye blinks with each eye, in order to test the eye blink detection algorithm. An average rightness rate of about 95% reached by individuals with the ability to blink both eyes allowed to conclude that the system could be used to command devices. Experiments with EEG consisted of inviting 25 people (some of them had suffered cases of meningitis and epilepsy) to test the system. All of them managed to deal with the HMI in only one training session. Most of them learnt how to use such HMI in less than 15 minutes. The minimum and maximum training times observed were 3 and 50 minutes, respectively.ConclusionSuch works are the initial parts of a system to help people with neuromotor diseases, including those with severe dysfunctions. The next steps are to convert a commercial wheelchair in an autonomous mobile vehicle; to implement the HMI onboard the autonomous wheelchair thus obtained to assist people with motor diseases, and to explore the potentiality of EEG signals, making the EEG-based HMI more robust and faster, aiming at using it to help individuals with severe motor dysfunctions.

Commanding a robotic wheelchair with a high-frequency steady-state visual evoked potential based brain–computer interface

This work presents a brain-computer interface (BCI) used to operate a robotic wheelchair. The experiments were performed on 15 subjects (13 of them healthy). The BCI is based on steady-state visual-evoked potentials (SSVEP) and the stimuli flickering are performed at high frequency (37, 38, 39 and 40 Hz). This high frequency stimulation scheme can reduce or even eliminate visual fatigue, allowing the user to achieve a stable performance for long term BCI operation. The BCI system uses power-spectral density analysis associated to three bipolar electroencephalographic channels. As the results show, 2 subjects were reported as SSVEP-BCI illiterates (not able to use the BCI), and, consequently, 13 subjects (12 of them healthy) could navigate the wheelchair in a room with obstacles arranged in four distinct configurations. Volunteers expressed neither discomfort nor fatigue due to flickering stimulation. A transmission rate of up to 72.5 bits/min was obtained, with an average of 44.6 bits/min in four trials. These results show that people could effectively navigate a robotic wheelchair using a SSVEP-based BCI with high frequency flickering stimulation.

A new mobile robot control approach via fusion of control signals

This paper proposes an alternative approach to address the problem of coordinating behaviors in mobile robot navigation: fusion of control signals. Such approach is based on a set of two decentralized information filters, which accomplish the data fusion involved. Besides these two fusion engines, control architectures designed according to this approach also embed a set of different controllers that generate reference signals for the robot linear and angular speeds. Such signals are delivered to the two decentralized information filters, which estimate suitable overall reference signals for the robot linear and angular speeds, respectively. Thus, the background for designing such control architectures is provided by the nonlinear systems theory, which makes this approach different from any other yet proposed. This background also allows checking control architectures designed according to the proposed approach for stability. Such analysis is carried out in the paper, and shows that the robot always reaches its final destination, in spite of either obstacles along its path or the environment layout. As an example, a control architecture is designed to guide a mobile robot in an experiment, whose results allows checking the good performance of the control architecture and validating the design approach proposed as well.

Towards a New Modality-Independent Interface for a Robotic Wheelchair

This work presents the development of a robotic wheelchair that can be commanded by users in a supervised way or by a fully automatic unsupervised navigation system. It provides flexibility to choose different modalities to command the wheelchair, in addition to be suitable for people with different levels of disabilities. Users can command the wheelchair based on their eye blinks, eye movements, head movements, by sip-and-puff and through brain signals. The wheelchair can also operate like an auto-guided vehicle, following metallic tapes, or in an autonomous way. The system is provided with an easy to use and flexible graphical user interface onboard a personal digital assistant, which is used to allow users to choose commands to be sent to the robotic wheelchair. Several experiments were carried out with people with disabilities, and the results validate the developed system as an assistive tool for people with distinct levels of disability.

Using a SSVEP-BCI to command a robotic wheelchair

This work presents a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) based on the Steady-State Visual Evoked Potential (SSVEP) that can discriminate four classes once per second. A statistical test is used to extract the evoked response and a decision tree is used to discriminate the stimulus frequency. Designed according such approach, volunteers were capable to online operate a BCI with hit rates varying from 60% to 100%. Moreover, one of the volunteers could guide a robotic wheelchair through an indoor environment using such BCI. As an additional feature, such BCI incorporates a visual feedback, which is essential for improving the performance of the whole system. All of this aspects allow to use this BCI to command a robotic wheelchair efficiently.

Evaluation of feature extraction techniques in emotional state recognition

We present in this paper a study of three EEG signals feature extraction techniques. These techniques have been widely employed in researches of emotional states recognition: statistical characteristics, features based on PSD (Power Spectral Density) and features based on HOC (High Order Crossings). The validation was performed via classification of emotional states of calm and stress using the K-NN based classifier in off-line mode using EEG signals from available DEAP database. The best results achieved were 70.1%, using the PSD based technique, and 69.59% using the HOC based technique.

Decentralized control of leader-follower formations of mobile robots with obstacle avoidance

This paper proposes a decentralized control scheme to guide a leader-follower formation of unicycle-like mobile robots to pass between static obstacles, demanding just one controller per robot. Two approaches are discussed, in terms of obstacle avoidance. One considers the whole formation as a virtual robot, which should avoid obstacles and keep the formation aspect. To do that, the leader robot takes care of goal seeking and obstacle avoidance, while the follower one just keeps the formation as a whole rigid body (rigid formation). In the second approach, the follower robot keeps only its separation from the leader (semi-rigid formation) and avoids obstacles, while the leader one seeks for the goal and avoids obstacles. In each case, the controllers onboard the robots do not share information during navigation (the control strategy is a decentralized one). Experimental results validating the proposal are also presented and discussed.

Improvements of a Brain-Computer Interface Applied to a Robotic Wheelchair

Two distinct signal features suitable to be used as input to a Support-Vector Machine (SVM) classifier in an application involving hands motor imagery and the correspondent EEG signal are evaluated in this paper. Such features are the Power Spectral Density (PSD) components and the Adaptive Autoregressive (AAR) parameters. The best result (an accuracy of 97.1%) is obtained when using PSD components, while the AAR parameters generated an accuracy of 91.4%. The results also demonstrate that it is possible to use only two EEG channels (bipolar configuration around C 3 and C 4), discarding the bipolar configuration around C z . The algorithms were tested with a proprietary EEG data set involving 4 individuals and with a data set provided by the University of Graz (Austria) as well. The resulting classification system is now being implemented in a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) used to guide a robotic wheelchair.

Incremental SSVEP analysis for BCI implementation

This work presents an incremental analysis of EEG records containing Steady-State Visual Evoked Potential (SSVEP). This analysis consists of two steps: feature extraction, performed using a statistic test, and classification, performed by a decision tree. The result is a system with high classification rate (a test with six volunteers resulted in an average classification rate of 91.2%), high Information Transfer Rate (ITR) (a test with the same six volunteers resulted in an average value of 100.2 bits/min) and processing time, for each incremental analysis, of approximately 120 ms. These are very good features for an efficient Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) implementation.

Nonlinear Control Techniques and Omnidirectional Vision for Team Formation on Cooperative Robotics

In this work a robot cooperation strategy based on omnidirectional vision is presented. Such strategy will be applied to a mobile robot team formed by small and simple robots and a bigger leader robot with more computational power. The leader must control team formation. It has an omnidirectional camera and sees the other robots. Color segmentation and Kalman filtering is used to obtain the pose of the followers. This information is then used by a nonlinear stable controller to manage team formation. Simulations and some preliminary experiments were run. The current results are interesting and encourage towards the next steps.