Researchers demonstrate thought-controlled exoskeleton

Using an electroencephalogram (EEG) cap, the system allows users to move forwards, turn left and right, sit and stand by staring at one of five flickering light emitting diodes (LEDs).

The results – delivered by scientists at Korea University and TU Berlin - are published in the Journal of Neural Engineering.

Each of the five LEDs are said to flicker at a different frequency, and when the user focusses their attention on a specific LED this frequency is reflected within the EEG readout. This signal is identified and used to control the exoskeleton.

The researchers say that a key problem has been separating these precise brain signals from those associated with other brain activity, and the highly artificial signals generated by the exoskeleton.

“Exoskeletons create lots of electrical ‘noise’” said Klaus Muller, one of the paper’s authors. “The EEG signal gets buried under all this noise – but our system is able to separate not only the EEG signal, but the frequency of the flickering LED within this signal.”