Facing the challenge: Bringing brain–computer interfaces to end-users

Brain–computer interfaces (BCIs) are devices that translate changes of the neurophysiological activity of the brain into control commands for an application. The research summarized in this Special Issue was presented at the 3rd workshop of the large scale integrating project TOBI (TOols for Brain–computer Interaction) funded by the European ICT programme (FP7). Bringing BCIs to end-users was the leading topic of the TOBI workshop. More than 100 researchers presented their work with the focus on involving people with disabilities with real need for assistive technology (AT), and possibly BCI. In the field of BCI research targeted areas of AT applications are mainly communication and substitution of lost motor function. BCI-driven AT for communication includes applications for simple yes–no communication and more complex verbal communication. In a broader sense, communication also includes participation in social networks and other electronic communication such as emailing and surfing the internet. Further, entertainment is a growing field of BCI-driven applications. In this respect, photo- and music browsers, gaming and painting applications have been developed. These developments match with the statements of end-users with severe motor impairment after several training sessions with BCI that they would also like to use the BCI for other forms of interaction than solely plain communication. Many of the potential users who had actively participated in BCI technology desi...
Source: Artificial Intelligence in Medicine - Category: Bioinformatics Authors: Tags: Guest Editorial Source Type: research