A feasibility study of non-invasive motor-imagery BCI-based robotic rehabilitation for Stroke patients

Abstract

This paper describes an initial study of non-invasive electroencephalograph (EEG)-based Brain Computer Interface (BCI) application on Stroke patients. The purpose of this study is to combine BCI and robotic arm for after-stroke rehabilitation exercises. A clinically-proven MANUS robotic rehabilitation shell is integrated with the NeuroComm BCI platform, whereby the robotic control mechanism is complemented by the motor imagery of the patient. 8 hemiparetic stroke patients with varying degrees of paralysis on the unilateral upper extremity are recruited for this study. The results show that most BCI-naïve hemiparetic stroke patients are capable of operating the BCI effectively, hence motivates further clinical studies on the extent of how BCI-based robotic rehabilitation are comparable with the control group that uses only robotic rehabilitation.