Executive Summary : | Scope of work:
The computer is now ubiquitous. However, it is not accessible to the motor impaired people as they cannot use the keyboard and mouse to interact with a computer. To bridge such a digital divide, surprisingly, there is no effort visible either from industries or academics, although the population of such people is not negligible. With the advancement of technology, now it is possible to develop a new interaction mechanism, which would be economical, user-friendly and efficient.
Methodology to be adopted:
With this scope of work, this project aims to develop a hands-free interaction technique using electroencephalography (EEG), a low-cost, user-friendly and non-invasive brain computing device. For every motor movement, there is a corresponding brain signal. For locked-in people, as there is no pathway from the brain to motor parts, the motor imagination is the same as the motor movement. Such a brain signal will be captured, processed and analyzed which then can be translated into computer commands.
Utility, justification and anticipated impact:
Such an interaction technique can be used to develop many applications, namely cursor movement, text entry system, controlling assistive devices such as a wheelchair, exoskeleton prosthetic arms, game playing, etc. With the advancement of brain-computing interface (BCI) technology, of late, many BCI hardware are available, out of them, EEG is the most popular as it satisfies both convenience criteria (i.e., non-intrusive, nonobtrusive, simple and user-friendly) and effectiveness criteria (i.e., sensitive to detect brain signal in a non-invasive way, efficient, and compatible to many applications).
This project will take the advantages of this new technology to develop a new interaction mechanism. Finally, the proposed interaction mechanism will open up a possibility of hands-free and touch-free as a novel mode in the next generation man-machine interaction. |
Co-PI: | Dr Monalisa Sarma, Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, Dr John Ashutosh Santoshi, Dr Shashank Purwar, All India Institute of Medical Science, (AIIMS), Bhopal |