The power of Brain-Computer interface: Controlling machines with the mind
BCI will not only transform human interaction with computers but also, more importantly, facilitate or even restore damaged hearing, sight, and movement. Brain-computer interface (BCI) is a technology that agree to communicate between a human-brain with an external technology. The term can be referred to an interface that takes signals from the brain to an external piece of hardware that sends signals to the brain. There are different brain-computer interface technologies developed, through different methods and for diversified purposes, including in virtual reality technology.
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BCI enables direct control of brain activity over external devices such as robots. Motor imagery (MI) based BCIs detect changes in brain activity associated with imaginary limb movements, such as grasping with the right or left hand. MI based BCIs require training, during which the user gradually learns how to control the relevant patterns of brain activity with the help of feedback. Additionally, it is common to use machine learning techniques to improve BCI performance and adapt the decoding algorithm to the user’s brain. Therefore, the brain and the BCI need to “collaborate” in order to constantly improve performance.
Type of BCI
Partially invasive BCIs
Partially invasive BCI devices are implanted inside the skull but rest outside the brain rather than within the grey matter. They produce better resolution signals than non-invasive BCIs where the bone tissue of the cranium deflects and deforms signals and have a lower risk of forming scar-tissue in the brain than fully invasive BCIs. There has been preclinical demonstration of intracortical BCIs from the stroke perilesional cortex
Non-invasive BCIs
There have also been experiments in humans using non-invasive neuroimaging technologies as interfaces. The substantial majority of published BCI work involves noninvasive EEG-based BCIs. Noninvasive EEG-based technologies and interfaces have been used for a much broader variety of applications. Although EEG-based interfaces are easy to wear and do not require surgery, they have relatively poor spatial resolution and cannot effectively use higher-frequency signals because the skull dampens signals, dispersing and blurring the electromagnetic waves created by the neurons. EEG-based interfaces also require some time and effort prior to each usage session, whereas non-EEG-based ones, as well as invasive ones require no prior-usage training.
How BCI Work?
The reason a BCI works at all is because of the way our brains function. Our brains are filled with neurons, individual nerve cells connected to one another by dendrites and axons. Every time we think, move, feel or remember something, our neurons are at work. That work is carried out by small electric signals that zip from neuron to neuron. The signals are generated by differences in electric potential carried by ions on the membrane of each neuron.
Active BCI derives its outputs from brain activity, which is directly and consciously controlled by the user, not necessarily depending on external events, for controlling an application. Reactive BCIs are used for sending commands by focusing on specific stimuli provided by the system that evoke known brain responses when perceived. Passive BCI is a relatively newer concept, which derives its outputs from arbitrary brain activity arising without the purpose of voluntary control, for enriching human-machine interaction with implicit information on the actual user state.
Brain-interface technology is opening the world for those who have been shut out of it in the past. Disabled people who today are confined to a bed or a wheelchair may one day be able to live autonomously by directly controlling their environment. Engineers have already created prosthetic arms and hands for amputees that can perform fine motor tasks and wheelchairs that can be BCI controlled.
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