SmartRolling: A human-machine interface for wheelchair control using EEG and smart sensing techniques.

Smart wheelchairs based on brain-computer interface (BCI) have been widely utilized recently to address certain mobility problems for people with disability. In this paper, we present SmartRolling, an intuitive human-machine interaction approach for the direct control of robotic wheelchair that jointly leverages EEG signals and motion sensing techniques. Specifically, SmartRolling offers two wheelchair-actuation modes for users with different physical conditions: (1) head motion only - people who are severely disabled but able to do basic tasks using eyes and head, and (2) head and hands motion - in addition to type 1, people who can use functioning hands/arms for extra tasks. The system issues operation commands by recognizing different EEG patterns elicited by motor execution (ME) tasks including eye blink, jaw clench, and fist open/close, while at the same time estimates users' steering intentions based on their facing direction by leveraging inertial measurements and computer vision techniques. The experiment results demonstrate that the proposed system is robust and effective to meets the individual's needs and has great potential to promote better health.