Activities

The project activities are mainly divided in two streams:

1. Development of modular assistive system, including a Brain-Computer Interface device;

2. Validation of the Brindisys system with the final users.

The system will be based on two main components:

• A self-contained BCI-based device, which can be operated by laypersons with limited support by developers. This device will rely on a commercial CE certified electroencephalographic (EEG) equipment, and will conform to the interfacing standards currently being developed in the framework of the TOBI project.

• A self-contained gateway device, that will accept input from the BCI, as well as by other input devices such as buttons, joysticks, touchpads, head trackers, etc. Any input will be processed and relayed to a mainstream communication or ambient control system.

This system will be designed and validated with the help of persons with ALS, which will be interviewed in the design phase to provide user requirements. These users will also test the system prototype in the assessment phase, either in a showcase, or at their home . In fact, in order to validate the system, we will design and implement the connection of our system with off-the-shelf communication aids (e.g. text to speech), and with a home automation system. A complete showcase will be available at the premises of FSL where users can test it for a short period (within a day); a few portable test kits will be released for deploying at the users’ home, where users can test it for some weeks.