Harnessing brain power at NUI Maynooth

摘要

The Department of Electronic Engineering at NUI Maynooth is involved in exciting interdisciplinary work in the biomedical, digital signal processing, control and electronic systems areas. Here Tomas Ward, Sean McLoone and Shirley Coyle highlight three specific projects. Researchers at the Electronic Engineering Department at NUI Maynooth have developed the world's first optical brain-computer interface (BCI), which uses reflected light to determine patterns of brain activity. A BCI is a device that allows users to interact with a computer and, ultimately, their external environment through thought alone. Such systems offer augmentative communication possibilities for people with severe disability. While BCIs already exist, they almost universally rely on electrical measurements of brain activity (termed an electroencephalogram or EEG) as recorded through electrodes applied on the scalp. Such systems are very difficult for users to master and, consequently, are rarely used outside research laboratories. Recognising this weakness, researchers at NUI Maynooth embarked on building a BCI that harnessed a totally different means of measuring brain activity.