Paint With Brainwaves: A step towards a low brain effort active BCI painting prototype

Active BCI programs may play a pivotal role in aiding the expression and communication for those who are unable to. According to the world health organization, 250–500,000 people suffer a serious spinal cord injury or debilitating nerve damage every year. Many of these cases lead the partial to full paralysis and/or blindness. It has been shown that EEG technology can aid patients’ communication abilities. The current programs on the market rely on visual cues to elicit a neural response and require constant eye movements, that may not be possible for some patients. In this work, an active BCI painting prototype was presented that did not rely on visual cues to elicit a neuro response. Based on the premise that the EEG signals can be used by a system more directly to interpret the commands of the user, a continuous painting BCI acted like a brush on a virtual canvas. Assigning the frequency bands alpha, beta, and delta to red, blue, and green, respectively; a volunteer performed a small painting demonstration. Thus deeming the prototype a good basis or starting point for a low effort active BCI painting application.