Leveraging Brain-Computer Interface Technology to Interpret Intentions and Enable Cognitive Human-Computer Interaction

Abstract

In this paper, I present the developed, integration, and evaluation of a Brain–Computer Interface (BCI) system which showcases the accessibility and usability of a BCI head- set to interact external devices and services. The paper initially provides a detailed survey of the history of BCI technology and gives a comprehensive overview of BCI paradigms and the underpinning biology of the brain, current BCI technologies, recent advances in the field, the BCI headset market, and prospective applications of the technology. The research focuses on leveraging BCI headsets within a BCI platform to interface with these external end-points through the Motor Imagery BCI paradigm. I present the design, implementation, and evaluation of a fully functioning, efficient, and versatile BCI system which can trigger real-world commands in devices and digital services. The BCI system demonstrates its versatility through use cases such as control- ling IoT devices, infrared (IR) based devices, and interacting with advanced language models. The system’s performance was quantified across various conditions, achiev- ing detection probabilities exceeding 95%, with latency as low as 1.4 seconds when hosted on a laptop and 2.1 seconds when hosted on a Raspberry Pi. The paper concludes with a detailed analysis of the limitations and potential im- provements of the newly developed system, and its implications for possible appli- cations. It also includes a comparative evaluation of latency, power efficiency, and usability, when hosting the BCI system on a laptop versus a Raspberry Pi.