Towards a portable assistive arm exoskeleton for stroke patient rehabilitation controlled through a brain computer interface

Abstract

Recent research has shown the benefits of using robotic devices to aid in stroke patient rehabilitation. In addition, the use of brain computer interfaces is showing promising applications in both controlling robotic devices and aiding in neural rehabilitation. Unfortunately, traditional rehabilitative devices are cumbersome and are not being used outside the laboratory environment, therefore potentially limiting patient access to these new rehabilitative technologies. This project seeks to address this issue by working toward creating a portable rehabilitative system consisting of an arm exoskeleton controlled by a brain computer interface (BCI). A wireless commercially available BCI system was used (Emotiv EPOC) to actuate the device in a single direction. A pilot study was conducted to evaluate the performance of the system on four healthy adult volunteers. Results show all users were able to control the device with success rates above chance.