Control of an electric wheelchair with a brain-computer interface headset

In this paper, an electric wheelchair control system based on a brain-computer interface (BCI) headset having 14 electrodes and two gyroscope sensors was proposed. This system allows a disabled person who cannot manually operate a joystick to drive the electric wheelchair without using his/her hands. The headset was mounted on the user's head, and the user's bio signals were subsequently measured. The user's face expression (i.e., Raise eyebrows or Clench) was distinguished via a neural network while the user's head movement (Turn to the right, Turn to the left, or Nod) was recognized based on threshold criteria. The control command of the electric wheelchair was assigned to the user's face expression and head movement. Thus, by using the motorized control device of the joystick developed in our previous study, the electric wheelchair can be driven hands-free by following the user's face expression and head movement. With the aim of evaluating the developed controlling system, a distinction experiment of the control commands and driving tests of the electric wheelchair were conducted, and the experimental results are presented herein.