Abstract

Over the last two decades, human brain functions have attracted a significant attention among researchers across a broad engineering spectrum. The most important field among the others, is Brain Computer Interface (BCI) which is a direct functional interaction between a human brain and external devices. In the past, the set-up for BCI research is costly and complex. In this paper, a cost effective way of implementing and designing a demonstration platform for BCI research is presented, featuring a low-cost hardware implementation based on an open-source electronics platform Arduino® with the view of being compatible with MATLAB® and Simulink®, and a commercial non-invasive electroencephalogram (EEG) recording device, Emotive®. Due to the compatibility with MATLAB® and Simulink®, and the chosen EEG logging device, the developed hardware and software platform can work seamlessly with several widely accepted BCI and EEG signal processing open-source software within the BCI research community, such as EEGLAB and OpenViBE. With the two-way communication and hardware-in-the-loop concept embedded within the design process, the developed platform can be tuned in an online fashion, which bears the long-term objective of investigating a holistic human-in-the-loop feedback control mechanism so that human and machines can collaborate in a more intelligent and natural way. The presented approach can be beneficial for BCI practitioners to set up their first inexpensive test rig and carry out fast prototyping in related activities.