Sensors, Vol. 21, Pages 6431: BCI-Based Control for Ankle Exoskeleton T-FLEX: Comparison of Visual and Haptic Stimuli with Stroke Survivors

Sensors, Vol. 21, Pages 6431: BCI-Based Control for Ankle Exoskeleton T-FLEX: Comparison of Visual and Haptic Stimuli with Stroke Survivors Sensors doi: 10.3390/s21196431 Authors: Patricio Barria Angie Pino Nicolás Tovar Daniel Gomez-Vargas Karim Baleta Camilo A. R. Díaz Marcela Múnera Carlos A. Cifuentes Brain–computer interface (BCI) remains an emerging tool that seeks to improve the patient interaction with the therapeutic mechanisms and to generate neuroplasticity progressively through neuromotor abilities. Motor imagery (MI) analysis is the most used paradigm based on the motor cortex’s electrical activity to detect movement intention. It has been shown that motor imagery mental practice with movement-associated stimuli may offer an effective strategy to facilitate motor recovery in brain injury patients. In this sense, this study aims to present the BCI associated with visual and haptic stimuli to facilitate MI generation and control the T-FLEX ankle exoskeleton. To achieve this, five post-stroke patients (55–63 years) were subjected to three different strategies using T-FLEX: stationary therapy (ST) without motor imagination, motor imagination with visual stimulation (MIV), and motor imagination with visual-haptic inducement (MIVH). The quantitative characterization of both BCI stimuli strategies was made through the motor imagery accuracy rate, the electroencephalographic (EEG) analysis during the MI active periods, the statistical analy...
Source: Sensors - Category: Biotechnology Authors: Tags: Article Source Type: research