The BciAi4SLA Project: Towards a User-Centered BCI

The brain-computer interfaces (BCI) are interfaces that put the user in communication with an electronic device based on signals originating from the brain. In this paper, we describe a proof of concept that took place within the context of BciAi4Sla, a multidisciplinary project involving computer scientists, physiologists, biomedical engineers, neurologists, and psychologists with the aim of designing and developing a BCI system following a user-centered approach, involving domain experts and users since initial prototyping steps in a design-test-redesign development cycle. The project intends to develop a software platform able to restore a communication channel in patients who have compromised their communication possibilities due to illness or accidents. The most common case is the patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In this paper, we describe the background and the main development steps of the project, also reporting some initial and promising user evaluation results, including real-time performance classification and a proof-of-concept prototype.

Automated summary

This paper describes a multidisciplinary project that aims to develop a brain-computer interface system for restoring communication abilities in patients, specifically those with ALS. The project involves experts from various fields and follows a user-centered approach in its development cycle. The paper provides an overview of the project's background, development steps, and initial user evaluation results.