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INNOVATION FOR INDEPENDENCE
ISSUE 72 April/May 10 £6.95
New headset developed by researchers By Dominic Musgrave A NEW headset developed by American researchers could allow people with disabilities to operate a motorised wheelchair or prosthetic device. The team at the University of Maryland, led by associate professor Jose Contreras-Vidal, successfully reconstructed 3-D hand motions from brain signals recorded in a non-invasive way An array of 34 sensors were placed on the scalps of five participants to record their brains’ electrical activity, using a process called electroencephalography. Volunteers were asked to reach from a centre button and touch eight other buttons in random order 10 times, while the authors recorded their brain signals and hand motions. Jose told Assistive Technologies that the researchers then attempted to decode the signals and reconstruct the 3-D hand movements. He added: “Our results showed that electrical brain activity acquired from the scalp surface carries enough information to reconstruct continuous, unconstrained hand movements. Our ground-breaking research opens the possibility for the development of assistive devices for the
neurologically-impaired or disabled. “We are currently working with robotic arms and wearable upper limb exoskeletons but there are a number of steps before this technology can be applied clinically.” Pior to the study, researchers have used non-portable and invasive methods that place sensors inside the brain when reconstructing hand motions. The researchers found that one sensor in particular provided the most accurate information. It was located over a part of the brain called the primary sensorimotor cortex, a region associated with voluntary movement. Useful signals were also recorded from another region called the inferior parietal lobule, which is known to help guide limb movement. The authors used these findings to confirm the validity of their methods. Jose added: “We hope it may eventually be possible for people with severe neuromuscular disorders, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), stroke, or spinal cord injury, to regain control of complex tasks without needing to have electrodes implanted in their brains.” The research was supported by the Parisbased La Fondation Motrice.
Television presenter Caroline Flack and her partner James O’Shea were the winners of the BBC Three show Dancing on Wheels. The winning couple go on to represent the UK at the Wheelchair Dance Sport European Championships in Israel this autumn. Picture: BBC