Toward synergy-based brain-machine interfaces

Ramana Vinjamuri, Douglas J. Weber, Zhi Hong Mao, Jennifer L. Collinger, Alan D. Degenhart, John W. Kelly, Michael L. Boninger, Elizabeth C. Tyler-Kabara, Wei Wang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

29 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper demonstrates a synergy-based brain-machine interface that uses low-dimensional command signals to control a high dimensional virtual hand. First, temporal postural synergies were extracted from the angular velocities of finger joints of five healthy subjects when they performed hand movements that were similar to activities of daily living. Two synergies inspired from the extracted synergies, namely, two-finger pinch and whole-hand grasp, were used in real-time brain control, where a virtual hand with 10 degrees of freedom was controlled to grasp or pinch virtual objects. These two synergies were controlled by electrocorticographic (ECoG) signals recorded from two electrodes of an electrode array that spanned motor and speech areas of an individual with intractable epilepsy, thus demonstrating closed loop control of a synergy-based brain-machine interface.

Original languageEnglish
Article number5928411
Pages (from-to)726-736
Number of pages11
JournalIEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine
Volume15
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2011

Keywords

  • Brain-machine interface
  • kinematic synergies
  • neural prosthesis
  • virtual reality

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Toward synergy-based brain-machine interfaces'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this