Reaching and Grasping a Glass of Water by Locked-In ALS Patients through a BCI-Controlled Humanoid Robot

Abstract

Locked-in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) patients are fully dependent on caregivers for any daily need. At this stage, basic communication and environmental control may not be possible even with commonly used augmentative and alternative communication devices. Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technology allows users to modulate brain activity for communication and control of machines and devices, without requiring a motor control. In the last several years, numerous articles have described how persons with ALS could effectively use BCIs for different goals, usually spelling. In the present study, locked-in ALS patients used a BCI system to directly control the humanoid robot NAO (Aldebaran Robotics, France) with the aim of reaching and grasping a glass of water. Four ALS patients and four healthy controls were recruited and trained to operate this humanoid robot through a P300-based BCI. A few minutes training was sufficient to efficiently operate the system in different environments. Three out of the four ALS patients and all controls successfully performed the task with a high level of accuracy. These results suggest that BCI-operated robots can be used by locked-in ALS patients as an artificial alter-ego, the machine being able to move, speak and act in his/her place.

Brain-Computer Interface-Based Humanoid Control: A Review

“…Overview: This application [ 66 ] involves using a BCI-controlled humanoid to grasp a glass of water. This kind of application can be helpful for people who may find difficulty in performing such a task because of their age or a serious medical condition like Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) disease.…”

“…A promising technology in this direction is the use of BCI-controlled humanoid robot. The authors in [ 66 ] use an EEG-based approach to capture the brain’s activity, which is recorded through electrodes implanted in cortical neurons. The signals were processed to actuate the humanoid to fetch the water.…”

“…The One vs. Rest approach takes one class as positive and the rest as negative and trains the classifier. The One vs. Rest approach was used for selecting the class with the maximum distance from hyperplane compared to all the other classes [ 66 ]. The network interface passed the commands from the BCI system to the robotic system.…”

Communication Matters—Pitfalls and Promise of Hightech Communication Devices in Palliative Care of Severely Physically Disabled Patients With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

“…While invasive BCI methods like intracortical electrodes have been primarily studied in animal research ( 165 ) and infrequently in tetraplegic patients ( 166 ), a number of non-invasive BCI systems has been evaluated in severely paralyzed patients including ALS-patients in (T)LIS ( 98 , 160 , 162 ). The majority of these systems have been developed for spelling or writing or texting ( 167 ) which is allowed by selection of letters, words or phrases presented on a screen ( 98 ).…”

Interfacing with the nervous system: a review of current bioelectric technologies

“…The spatiotemporal resolution and therefore the clinical applicability of such devices are dependent on invasive implantation within neural tissue [103]. Currently, non-invasive BCIs have been demonstrated to have therapeutic potential in enabling software-aided communication [20] and robotassisted object manipulation (e.g., picking up a glass of water) [143] in advanced amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients with locked-in syndrome. Additionally, BCIs have exhibited great potential in aiding paraplegics with recovery [120,162].…”