Brain controlled wheelchairs

New system controlled by electrodes to the scalp.

Wheelchairs could become much more useful to quadriplegics thanks to new EU-funded, groundbreaking technology. This new system uses brain signals as well as artificial intelligence to control the chair.
 
There are around 2.5 million wheelchair bound people worldwide with many of them quadriplegic. People can be left paralysed from the neck down as a result of spinal injuries or neurodegenerative disease. The development of a new type of brain-computer interface (BCI) developed by the MAIA project, could give back a degree of independence to the wheelchair-bound.
 
The chair uses electronic signals emitted by the brain picked up by electrodes attached to the user’s scalp. It also allows people to operate devices and perform basic tasks. Led by the IDIAP Research Institute in Switzerland, the team have conducted several successful trials in which users have demonstrated that they were able to manoeuvre the wheelchair around obstacles using brain power alone.

Controlling complex mechanical devices

“We have demonstrated that it is possible for someone to control a complex mechanical device with their minds, and this opens up all sorts of possibilities,” said MAIA coordinator José del R. Millán.
 
Relying on a form of artificial intelligence sourced from the user’s own mind, a person only has to think of going ahead or turning direction for the chair to follow their command. “A user can tell the chair to go straight ahead, but it will not just randomly roll in that direction if there is a wall or a flight of stairs in the way,” Millán notes. “What we have done is combine the intelligence of the person with the artificial intelligence of the device.”
 
Although BCI is not a new technology, previous similar products have been unable to turn brain signals into accurate mechanical movement.

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