Brain–Robot Interfaces Using Spatial Tactile BCI Paradigms

Two novel approaches to a direct brain–robot interface using tactile brain–computer interface (BCI) technologies are presented in the paper. We propose to utilize two previously developed by our team stimulus driven BCI paradigms, which are based on tactile pin pressure and full body vibrotactile modalities. The user intentions are decoded from the brainwaves in real time and translated to a symbiotic humanoid robot NAO navigation. A communication protocol between the BCI output and the robot is realized in a symbiotic brain–robot communication scenario using an user datagram protocol (UDP). Results obtained from healthy users reproducing simple brain–robot control tasks support the research hypothesis of the possibility to interact with robotic devices using symbiotic BCI technologies.