Multi-command Tactile Brain Computer Interface: A Feasibility Study
This study investigates a new way to control devices using touch sensations on the fingertips. It shows that people can respond to these touch signals to operate things like robots without needing extensive training.
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This article and its accompanying video are automated summaries derived from Multi-command Tactile Brain Computer Interface: A Feasibility Study by Hiromu Mori, Yoshihiro Matsumoto, Victor Kryssanov, Eric Cooper, Hitoshi Ogawa, Shoji Makino, Zbigniew R Struzik, Tomasz M Rutkowski. The original research was conducted solely by the paper's authors; PDFdigest did not conduct any of the research and makes no claims of ownership over the underlying scientific work.
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- 1 Recently alternative solutions have been proposed to make use of spatial auditory or tactile (somatosensory) modalities to enhance brain-computer interface comfort and increase the information transfer rate (ITR) achieved by users.
- 2 The maximum ITR it was possible for the BCI-naive subjects to achieve in the settings presented was 9.96 bit/min.
- 3 The Wilcoxon rank sum tests for pairwise comparisons revealed no differences (at the 0.05 level) among the median values for all the fingertip pairs of each subject.
- 4 The concept proposed in this paper uses the brain somatosensory (tactile) channel to allow targeting of the tactile sensory domain for the operation of robotic equipment such as personal vehicles, life support systems, etc.
Introduction
Contemporary BCIs are typically based on mental visual and motor imagery prototypes, which require extensive user training and non-impaired vision of the users . The rationale behind the use of the tactile channel is that it is normally far less loaded than visual or even auditory channels in such applications.
One of the first reports of the successful employment of steady-state somatosensory responses to create a BCI targeted a low frequency vibrotactile stimulus in the range of 20 -31 Hz to evoke the subjects’ attentional modulation, which was then used to define interfacing commands.
P300 responses are commonly used in BCI approaches and are considered to be the most reliable ERPs with untrained subjects.
However, even in its current form, the proposed tBCI can be regarded as a practical solution for totally-locked-in (TLS) patients, who cannot use vision or auditory based interfaces due to sensory or other disabilities.
Methodology
A recent report proposed using a Braille stimulator with 100 ms static push stimuli delivered to each of six fingers to evoke a somatosensory response potential (SEP) related P300. This paper proposes a novel tactile brain-computer interface based on P300 responses evoked by tactile stimuli delivered via vibrotactile exciters attached to the ten fingertips of the subject’s hands.
Study Design
The tactile stimuli were delivered as sinusoidal waves generated by a portable computer with MAX/MSP software .
The stimuli were generated via ten channel outputs (one for each fingertip of the subject) of an external digital-to-analog signal converter MOTU UltraLite-mk3 Hybrid coupled with three YAMAHA P4050 power amplifiers (four acoustic frequency channels each).
Results & Findings
Recently alternative solutions have been proposed to make use of spatial auditory or tactile (somatosensory) modalities to enhance brain-computer interface comfort and increase the information transfer rate (ITR) achieved by users. The concept proposed in this paper uses the brain somatosensory (tactile) channel to allow targeting of the tactile sensory domain for the operation of robotic equipment such as personal vehicles, life support systems, etc.
- Recently alternative solutions have been proposed to make use of spatial auditory or tactile (somatosensory) modalities to enhance brain-computer interface comfort and increase the information transfer.
- The concept proposed in this paper uses the brain somatosensory (tactile) channel to allow targeting of the tactile sensory domain for the operation of robotic equipment.
- The P300 response is a positive electroencephalogram event-related potential (ERP) deflection starting at around 300 ms and lasting for 200 -300 ms after an expected stimulus.
- The results indicated that the experiments achieved information transfer rates of 7.8 bit/min on average and 27 bit/min for the best subject.
- The results obtained in psychophysical and electroencephalogram experiments with eleven BCI-naive subjects are then discussed.
Recently alternative solutions have been proposed to make use of spatial auditory or tactile (somatosensory) modalities to enhance brain-computer interface comfort and increase the information transfer rate (ITR) achieved by users.
The maximum ITR it was possible for the BCI-naive subjects to achieve in the settings presented was 9.96 bit/min.
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Practical Applications
All eleven BCI-naive subjects scored well above the chance level of 10%, reaching an ITR in the range from 0.19 bit/min to 4.46 bit/min, which may be considered to be a good outcome for experiments with beginners (naive subjects). The proposed interface could be used for real-time operation of robotic vehicles.
Finally, the bottom panel presents the AUC of T ARGET versus non -T ARGET responses (again, P300 could easily be identified).
Tactile Stimuli
Tactile stimuli were delivered as sinusoidal waves to the subjects’ fingertips using a digital-to-analog converter and tactile exciters. The stimuli aimed to evoke responses from specific tactile receptors.
Psychophysical Experiment Protocol
The protocol involved presenting subjects with target and non-target stimuli to assess response time and accuracy. Each subject responded to tactile bursts delivered to their fingertips, with a focus on the influence of stimulus frequency.
EEG tBCI Experiment
This section details the EEG setup for capturing brain signals during tactile stimulation. It describes the electrode placement, signal processing methods, and the experimental design for classifying responses to tactile commands.
Frequently Asked Questions
P300 responses are commonly used in BCI approaches and are considered to be the most reliable ERPs with untrained subjects. Each subject was instructed which stimulus to attend to by a cross above the target fingertip (T ARGET ), shown by the.
The stimuli were delivered to the subjects’ fingertips via the tactile exciters HiWave HIAX25C10-8/HS working in the range of 100 -20, 000 Hz, as depicted in Figure 1 . In the psychophysical experiment, it is shown that all the tested fingertip zones.
Recently alternative solutions have been proposed to make use of spatial auditory or tactile (somatosensory) modalities to enhance brain-computer interface comfort and increase the information transfer rate (ITR) achieved by users. The maximum ITR it was possible for the BCI-naive subjects to.
The proposed interface could be used for real-time operation of robotic vehicles. Finally, the bottom panel presents the AUC of T ARGET versus non -T ARGET responses (again, P300 could easily be identified).
However, even in its current form, the proposed tBCI can be regarded as a practical solution for totally-locked-in (TLS) patients, who cannot use vision or auditory based interfaces due to sensory or other disabilities.
This study investigates a new way to control devices using touch sensations on the fingertips. It shows that people can respond to these touch signals to operate things like robots without needing extensive training.