Development and deployment of a BCI+VR platform
One of the BCI team’s research projects is part of Axis 5 of the CPER RITMEA, entitled “Silver economy – smart cities”. More specifically, it is part of workpackage 1 of this axis, which involves specifying, designing, developing and testing an instrumented wheelchair. This wheelchair can be used in uncontrolled environments by people with severe motor disabilities.
One of the challenges of our research will be to assess the user’s motor skills in real time and, if these no longer enable him to control the wheelchair effectively, to propose an alternative interaction and control technique. The analysis of the user’s abilities as well as the establishment of a channel for piloting the wheelchair will be carried out by a brain-computer interface.
To validate the approach of on-line analysis of the user’s motor skills and, if necessary, offer him an alternative channel for controlling the wheelchair, it will be necessary to start by developing a simulator. A first version of this simulator will use a virtual reality headset to visualize the user’s environment. To this simulator, we will integrate an electroencephalography system and develop an interface authorizing the use of this additional sensor.
The simulator will enable us to carry out an experimental study involving a large number of disabled people. The precise objectives of this study and the methodology chosen to carry it out will be validated by a research ethics committee.
For more information, download the detailed job description.
Version française