An ERD/ERS analysis of the relation between human arm and robot manipulator movements

Abstract

This work aims to analyze the relation between the movement of an anthropomorphic robotic manipulator with the brain cortex response elicited in healthy subjects for three experimental conditions. The experiment was divided in three parts: in the first one, the subject only observes the movement of the robotic manipulator; in the second part, the subject follows the robot movement with his right arm; finally, in the third part, the subject imagines the execution of the corresponding movement synchronized with the movement of the robot. Event related (de)synchronization in each of the recorded electroencephalogram (EEG) channels was analyzed. Event related desyn-chronization was present in alpha and beta bands in various areas of the cortex, including occipital, parietal, central and prefrontal areas. The results provided some physiological insights into human-robot interaction for future developments in brain-machine interfaces.