Many people in this world suffer from severely debilitating syndromes leaving them paralyzed and completely dependent on the assistance of others. There have been made some technological advances to help them increase the quality of their lives, and one of the latest is a robotic arm wheelchair, currently being developed by researchers at the University of South Florida (USF).

They have developed a wheelchair-mounted robotic arm (WMRA) that captures the user’s brain waves and converts them into robotic movements. The revolutionary device can help people with disabilities better perform their activities of daily life. State-of-the-art add-ons to wheelchair-arm technology such as a 3-D joy-stick, keypad and touch screen are making big differences, but the newest and perhaps the most revolutionary device is the addition of a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI), the technology that captures the user’s thoughts and turns them into wheelchair robotic arm movements.

 

“We modified the BCI system to display a matrix of several options that include actions or directions that the user would like to have the WMRA perform,” said Redwan Alqasemi, a researcher in the USF Department of Mechanical Engineering’s Center for Rehabilitation Engineering and Technology. “The user wears a head cap fitted with electrodes to measure P-300 electroencephalogram (EEG) activities in the brain. While the movement options intensify on a screen and flash at certain frequencies, the user concentrates on the option desired to trigger the desired P-300 brain signal. The electrodes detect the signal, relate it to the desired action, then, the WMRA control system translates the brain signal to the robotic arm, which carries out the desired movements,” said Alqasemi.

 

Early testing by human users has showed that the WMRA can be controlled “without the user moving a muscle.” The WMRA does not use any pre-programmed movements unless chosen by the user.

 

The WMRA holds particular promise for persons suffering from “locked-in syndrome,” a totally paralytic condition that leaves people unable to move but intellectually normal, a condition that has gained greater attention thanks to the book and subsequent movie The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly. Even in its development stage, the WMRA offers hope for a better quality of life for people with all levels of mobility challenges.

 
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