A wireless, smart EEG system for volitional control of lower-limb prosthesis

Smooth and convenient user control of prostheses is critical to restore motor and cognitive functions in amputees. This study aims to develop a smart system supporting volitional control of prostheses directly from user' thought without any interface manipulation. An ultra-portable, wireless-enabled, and low powered device prototype was developed to amplify and process multi-channel electroencephalography (EEG) signals in real-time. Signal processing and machine learning algorithms were designed to decode user's volition from EEG signals and subsequently to command prosthetic devices. A feasibility test was conducted on an amputee user with right leg amputation. Preliminary results showed that the amputee user was able to volitionally control a knee-locker installed on the prosthetic leg at a sensitive rate of 83.5% with zero false positive detections in real-time. Future study will be directed to support multifunctional, volitional control of robotic prostheses.