Study on control of an electric wheelchair using a biosignal acquisition device

-Distinction of user's intention by electroencephalogram using support vector machine-

Abstract

In this paper, brain-machine-interface for electric wheelchair using a bio-signal headset Emotiv EPOC is proposed. An electroencephalogram (EEG) of concentrated state and of relaxed state is distinguished using support vector machine (SVM), and crunching is detected based on the threshold criteria for electromyogram (EMG). Then, the electric wheelchair is controlled so as to move forward when user's concentration on consciousness is identified and stop when user's crunching movement is detected. In addition, accuracy of the identification rate for EEG was investigated. As a result, the concentration on consciousness was distinguished with 77.5% accuracy within 3.0 seconds in wheelchair operation environment. Realization of left-turn and right-turn is left as future work.