35 Years Ago, Researchers Used Brain Waves to Control a Robot

Using the mind to instantly management an object was lengthy the stuff of science fiction, and in 1988 the imaginative and prescient grew to become a actuality.

IEEE Life Senior Member Stevo Bozinovski and Members Mihail Sestakov and Dr. Liljana (*35*) used a pupil volunteer’s electroencephalogram (EEG) mind indicators to transfer a robotic alongside a closed-circuit observe. Bozinovski and Sestakov had been electrical engineering and laptop science professors at Saints Cyril and Methodius University, in Skopje, North Macedonia. (*35*), a doctor, taught within the college’s medical faculty. Their achievement has paved the way in which for EEG-controlled wheelchairs and exoskeletons.

IEEE commemorated their work with an IEEE Milestone throughout a ceremony on the college on 10 October.

“The accomplishment is not only meaningful locally,” Vladimir Atanasovski stated on the dedication ceremony. “It exhibits benefits for the entire humanity.” Atanasovski is dean of the college’s electrical engineering and knowledge applied sciences faculty.

“It was at this very school, 35 years ago, where a relationship between two previously distant areas [robotics and EEG signals] was formed,” he added. “This remarkable work showed that science fiction can become a reality.

“Controlling a robot using human brain signals for the first time advanced both electrical and computer engineering and science, led to worldwide research on brain-computer interfaces, and opened an explicit communication channel between robots and humans.”

Using engineering to exhibit psychokinesis

Bozinovski, Sestakov, and (*35*) constructed a system to ship instructions to a robotic based mostly on EEG sign processing. The technique is noninvasive; all you’ve got to do is place electrodes on a volunteer’s scalp.

The three researchers used a Movit Line Tracer II robotic they constructed from a equipment from Japanese equipment store Elehobby, now referred to as Elekit. The robotic had two plastic discs that sat on prime of one another and held the digital elements between them. Its two wheels had been managed with a begin/cease mechanical change.

“Engineers are the driving force in every country, contributing to the welfare and progress of societies.”—Stevo Pendarovsk

The robotic, powered by batteries, drove on a observe drawn on a flat floor, in accordance to the Milestone proposal entry on the Engineering Technology and History Wiki.

But the researchers nonetheless didn’t understand how they had been going to translate the mind indicators into instructions. (*35*) prompt utilizing the EEG’s distinguished alpha-range frequency of 8 to 12 hertz—often known as the mu rhythm. It’s a synchronized sample {of electrical} exercise within the a part of the mind that controls voluntary motion. The frequency will increase when a particular person is relaxed and never transferring.

(*35*)’s principle was that the sample would command the Line Tracer. People making an attempt to management the robotic would obtain leisure by closing their eyes. To cease the robotic from transferring, they might carry out a voluntary motion resembling opening their eyes.

Bozinovski, Sestakov, and (*35*) designed an experiment to check her principle.

Moving a robotic utilizing mind indicators

Two rooms had been constructed to conduct the experiment. One was referred to as the “robot arena,” and had a desk on which sat a rectangular closed-circuit observe with markings the place the robotic can be commanded to cease.Saints Cyril and Mehtodius University/IEEE

Bozinovski and Sestakov constructed two rooms within the faculty’s Laboratory of Intelligent Machines and Bioinformation Systems to conduct the experiment. One was referred to as the “robot arena,” as Bozinovski described it within the Milestone entry. In the room was a desk on which sat a rectangular closed-circuit observe with markings the place the robotic can be commanded to cease.

The second room housed the expertise together with analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters, an IBM XT private laptop, a transistor amplifier, and a differential biomedical amplifier, which measured the voltage distinction between the mind’s amplitude and frequency and the time it took for them to change. Bozinovski and Sestakov changed the mechanical change with an EEG-emulated management change that was linked to the transistor amplifier. The pupil volunteer sat within the second room.

A window linked the 2 rooms. Wires from the D/A converter hooked up to the robotic hung from the ceiling, nicely out of the way in which of the robotic’s motion.

Electrodes had been positioned on the highest and middle of the volunteer’s head, close to the medial parietal cortex—the a part of the mind that completes visible scene processing. More had been positioned behind the suitable ear, close to the mastoid, which perceives visible sensations. Others had been positioned on the brow, to accumulate the bottom electrical sign, from which the differential biomedical amplifier might detect if the frequency elevated.

To transfer the robotic, the scholar relaxed, with eyes closed. The differential biomedical amplifier recorded the EEG indicators and inputted them into the pc with the assistance of the A/D converter set at 300 Hz. Recognition software program created by Bozinovski and Sestakov translated the indicators into a go command. The laptop then despatched a 5-volt logic pulse via the D/A converter—which the transistor amplifier magnified and despatched to the robotic. The volunteer was in a position to cease the Line Tracer by opening their eyes.

Bozinovski, Sestakov, and (*35*) introduced their findings on the 1988 IEEE International Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference.

North Macedonia’s president on the significance of engineers

“Engineers are the driving force in every country, contributing to the welfare and progress of societies,” Stevo Pendarovski, president of North Macedonia, stated on the dedication ceremony.

“Let this genuinely exceptional event of great importance for Macedonian engineering in particular, but also for Macedonian science and society as a whole, be an inspiration for all students, professors, and future engineers,” Pendarovski stated, “to create and contribute to building a modern and technologically advanced world.”

IEEE President Saifur Rahman additionally attended the ceremony.

A plaque recognizing the expertise is displayed outdoors the Saints Cyril and Methodius University electrical engineering college constructing. The Laboratory of Intelligent Machines and Bioinformation Systems, the place the Milestone was achieved, is within the constructing. It reads:

In 1988, within the Laboratory of Intelligent Machines and Bioinformation Systems, human mind indicators managed the motion of a bodily object (a robotic) for the primary time worldwide. This linked electroencephalogram (EEG) indicators collected from a mind with robotics analysis, opening a new channel for communication between people and machines. EEG-controlled gadgets (wheelchairs, exoskeletons, and many others.) have benefited quite a few customers and expanded expertise’s position in trendy society.

Administered by the IEEE History Center and supported by donors, the Milestone program acknowledges excellent technical developments world wide.

The IEEE North Macedonia Section sponsored the nomination.