IJECT Vol.

8, Issue 2, April - June 2017 ISSN : 2230-7109 (Online) | ISSN : 2230-9543 (Print)

Brain Wave Controlled Robotic Arm

1
Yeshas Y, 2Lekha H. P, 3Belli Praveen, 4Jayaprakash H B, 5Puneeth H J
1,2,3,4,5
Dept. of Electronic & Communication Engg, Bangalore Technological Institute,
Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Abstract Although many researchers have developed various brain-

Paralysis is one amongst the major neural disorder that causes loss controlled mobile robots, to the best of our knowledge, none of
of motion of one or more muscles of the body, where in depending the existing brain-controlled mobile robots is brought out of a
on the cause, it may affect a specific muscle group or region of the controlled laboratory environment. The main reason for this is that
body or a larger area may be involved. In pursuit of rehabilitation, the BCI is not stable due to the non-stationary nature of the EEG
the eye can be regarded as one of the organs that can help a signals. Thus, to make these mobile robots usable in real-world
paralyzed person to communicate suitably. The Brain Signals of situations, stable BCI systems need to be explored.
such patients can be used to help them communicate to others and If a BCI system is not stable, other techniques should be further
also to perform various tasks by providing necessary infrastructure developed to improve the overall driving performance. Rebsamen
and training. This project describes the acquisition and analysis of et al., Iturrate et al. also combined a P300 BCI and an autonomous
Brain signals for operating a robot having a robotic arm mounted navigation system to develop a robotic wheelchair. The main
on top of it. The proposed method here uses a minimum number difference between them is that the latter allows a wheelchair to
of electrodes for obtaining the brain signals using EEG Headsets move in an unknown environment. In addition, the user is able to
available in the market and then control a robot based on the levels control the wheelchair to turn left or right at any time by focusing
of these brain signals which can be varied by varying the states his/her attention on the “turn left” or “turn right” icons at the lower
of mind. The EEG Headset detects the signals and generates a section of the visual display to elicit a corresponding P300.
discrete value. This value is then sent over Bluetooth to a PC/
Laptop for further processing and plotting using MATLAB. After II. System Design
processing the actions to be performed are sent over ZIGBee to We divide brain-controlled mobile robots into two categories
the ARM Microcontroller that controls the robot as well as the according to their operational modes. One category is called,
robotic arm mounted on the robot. “direct control by the BCI,” which means that the BCI translates
EEG signals into motion commands to control robots directly who
Keywords first developed a brain-controlled robotic wheelchair whose left or
EEG, BCI, Prosthetic right turning movements are directly controlled by corresponding
motion commands translated from user brain signals while
I. Introduction imagining left or right limb movements.
The patterns of interaction between these neurons are represented The robotic platform is illustrated also used a BCI based on motor
as thoughts and emotional states. According to the human thoughts, imagery to build a brain-controlled mobile robot, as illustrated
this pattern will be changing which in turn produce different which can perform three motion commands including turning
electrical waves. A muscle contraction will also generate a unique left and right and going forward and validated this robot in a
electrical signal. All these electrical waves will be sensed by the real world.
brain wave sensor and it will convert the data into packets and
transmit through Bluetooth medium [1]. Level LAU will receive the
brain wave raw data and it will extract and process the signal using
Mat lab platform. Then the control commands will be transmitted
to the robotic module to process. With this entire system, we can
move a robot according to the human thoughts and it can be turned
by blink muscle contraction.
The basic idea of BCI is to translate user produced patterns of
brain activity into corresponding commands. A typical BCI is
composed of signal acquisition and signal processing (including Fig. 1: Brain Secret Card Section
pre-processing, feature extraction and classification) [2]. Although
some BCI systems do not include all components and others group
two or three components into one algorithm, most systems can
be conceptually divided into signal acquisition, pre-processing,
feature extraction, and classification The brain signals that are
widely used to develop EEG-based BCIs include P300 potentials,
which are a positive potential deflection on the on-going brain
activity at a latency of roughly 300ms after the random occurrence
of a desired target stimulus from non-target stimuli the stimuli can
be in visual, auditory, [3] or tactile modality SSVEP, which are
visually evoked by a stimulus modulated at a fixed frequency and
occur as an increase in EEG activity at the stimulus frequency and
the ERD and ERS, which are induced by performing mental tasks,
such as motor imagery, mental arithmetic or mental rotation [4]. Fig. 2: Brainwave Headset Provided by NeuroSky

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ISSN : 2230-7109 (Online) | ISSN : 2230-9543 (Print) IJECT Vol. 8, Issue 2, April - June 2017

As shown in fig. 1 the Brain secret card section contains EEG transmitter. According to the data received by the XBee the ARM
Sensor to Sense the Human brain, and it will be sensed by using the processor will give the directions to the motors and the robot is
Brainwave Headset which is provided by NeuroSky. Technologies self-controlled robot with ultrasonic sensor and connected with a
and those signals will be transferred by using Bluetooth which relay and a driver circuit. And all this information will be displayed
is there in the Brainwave headset, for this Brainwave headset we on the LCD display.
need to give power using a AAA battery which is shown in figure
1.The Brainwave headset comes with Power switch, a sensor tip,
flexible ear arm and a ground connection Ear clip. In this Headset
we use Non-invasive sensor that won’t cause any pain to the User
who were the headset. After inserting an AAA battery switch on the
Brainwave headset using the power switch the LED indicator will
blink and if the Red colour light not blinking the headset is powered
on but not connected to with the computer’s Bluetooth.

Fig. 5: Design Overview of Prosthetic Arm

Based on the cad file design components are assembled. In gripper

design the standard wheels are used to give support to the whole
mechanical assembly. One wheel is connected with servo motor
shaft and another wheel is dummy. The shaft dummy wheel is
automatically rotated. The total system was controlled using three
Fig. 3: Data Processing Unit servo motors. Two types of servo motors are used they are SERVO
MOTOR V0006 and SERVO MOTOR VTS08A. The maximum
angle of the servo motor is 180 degrees. Wooden box (switch
box) is used as the base to hold the prosthetic arm. The wrist is
prosthetic arm body to move freely up and down the prosthetic
arm. The wrist is connected to base and one servo motor. The
gripper is used to pick the object (similar to hand fingers). The
maximum gripper open is 9.3 cm for 180 degree and close position
is 1.0 cm for 0 degree. The gripper is connected with one servo
motor and used to pick and place the object.

III. Experimental Study

Mind-Waves are more precisely the ability of the mind to focus
and to concentrate to control the prosthetic. This is accomplished
by using an inexpensive EEG reader that can be worn on the
head. This external device is in contrast to current expensive
devices that require an implanted electrode in the arm and requires
more training for effective purpose. Also, some of the more
expensive prosthetics require myo-electric impulses to control
the actuators. The Arduino Prosthesis is an prosthetic arm that
uses a microcontroller(Arduino YUN) to measure the brainwaves
registered by an EEG headset (Neurosky Mindwave Mobile), and
Fig. 4: Robotic Module has six servos in the arm(4-v0006 & 2-VTS08A) to control the
prosthetic arm. The components are open-sourced and available
As shown in fig. 3 the Data transmitted by the Brainwave headset at low cost compared to other devices.
will be received by the Computer’s Bluetooth receiver. And then
all these data will be analyzed by the Level Analysis platform. When the user concentrates hard enough, their brainwaves cause
The Level Analysis platform will extract the raw data using the the arm to rotate. The Arduino Prosthesis is a creative innovation
MATLAB. After the analysis of this data, this data will be sent to because it is less expensive than other prosthesis, and can be
the robot module using serial data transmission i.e. using XBee. expanded beyond its original parameters. If something could
happen to it, the microcontroller and servos can be quickly
As shown in fig. 4, in the robot module there will be an XBee replaced, and the rest of the prosthetic arm can be repaired or
receiver will receive the data which is transmitted by the XBee restored to its original specifications. This is a prototype that can

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IJECT Vol. 8, Issue 2, April - June 2017 ISSN : 2230-7109 (Online) | ISSN : 2230-9543 (Print)

be replaced with high power servo motors to make the arm more V. Block Diagram
functional exactly like a human arm.

Fig. 7: Block Diagram of Proposed System

V. Application of the Project

It can be used as a Smart Prosthetic for physically challenged
persons that can help them to move objects by interpreting the
Brainwaves of the user. The same can also be used in Industries
Fig. 6: System Architecture and companies to provide employment to physically challenged
persons.
IV. Methodology
It is basically a Brain Computer Interface (BCI) System. A BCI VI. Expected Outcome of the Project
is a non-muscular communication channel that enables a person The arm must turn out to be an efficient prosthetic aid at a lesser
to send commands and messages to an automated system such price compared to costlier Myoelectric Prostheses. Must be able to
as a robotic arm or prosthetic arm, by means of his/her brain move light weight objects from one place to another as interpreted
activity. from the brain waves of the user.
The basic idea of BCI is to translate user produced patterns of
brain activity into corresponding commands. A typical BCI is VII. Acknowledgement
composed of signal acquisition and signal processing (including We are very much thankful to Prof. T Deepa, HOD, Dept of ECE,
pre-processing, feature extraction and classification). One of BTI, Bangalore for being supportive, technical assistance and for
the most important features in a BCI system is represented by the continuous encouragement and insightful suggestions which
acquisition. The most spread acquisition technique is EEG, and it helped us to successfully complete this paper. We extend our
represents a cheap and portable solution for acquisition. The EEG gratitude thanks to Dr. H S Nanda, Principal, BTI, Bangalore and
technique assumes brainwaves recording by electrodes attached to also teaching staff and management for their moral support and
the subject’s scalp. EEG signals present low level amplitudes in the encouragement during this work.
order of microvolt and frequency range from 1 Hz up to 100 Hz.
Specific features are extracted and associated with different states References
of patient brain activity, and further with commands for developed [1] Siliveru Ramesh, K. Harikrishna, J. Krishna Chaithanya,
applications. Using EEG one more drawback can be eliminated "Brainwave Controlled Robot Using Bluetooth", International
(i.e. dangerous surgery can be avoided for invasive method where Journal of Advanced Research in Electrical, Electronics and
electrodes are placed inside of brain called implants). Instrumentation Engineering, Vol. 3, Issue 8, August 2014.
The EEG Headset or the Brainwave Sensor detects the electrical [2] Arul Prasath, Harihara Ganesh S, Hariharan B, Hariharan,
signals from the brain and sends them in the form of data packets "Interaction of Human with Robotic Arm", International
to a PC/Laptop via Bluetooth. This received data is processed in Journal of Innovative research in Computer and
MATLAB and the control commands are then transmitted to the Communication Engineering, Vol. 4, Issue 3, 2016.
Arm via RF. Based on the data received by the Microcontroller [3] S.Nasrin Banu, S.Syed Rafiammal,"Controlling of Prosthetic
from the PC/Laptop it performs certain predefined actions based Arms by EEG Signals Using Wavelet CSP Algorithm", 32nd
on the level of concentration as shown in Table 1 below. Annual International Conference of the IEEE EMBS Buenos
Aires, Vol. 2, 2010.
Table 1: Commands of the proposed Robotic Arm [4] Howida A. Shedeed, Mohamed F. Issa, Salah M. El-Sayed
Commands Extracted Signal “Brain EEG signal processing for controlling a robotic
Move Arm in Forward Direction Attention:20-45 arm”, November 2013. Computer Engineering & Systems
(ICCES), 2013 8th International Conference.
Move Arm Upwards Attention:45-70
Move Arm Downwards Attention:70-95
Move Arm towards Right Meditation:20-45
Move Arm towards Left Meditation:45-70
Close the Claws of the Arm to hold an object Meditation:70-95

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ISSN : 2230-7109 (Online) | ISSN : 2230-9543 (Print) IJECT Vol. 8, Issue 2, April - June 2017

Mr. Yeshas Y currently perusing his Mr. Jayaprakash H B received his

Bachelor of Engineering from Bangalore diploma degree from Cauvery College,
Technological Institute (BTI), Kodagu under DTE, Karnataka and
Bangalore affiliated to Visvesvaraya currently perusing his Bachelor
Technological University, Belagavi. of Engineering from Bangalore
Technological Institute (BTI),
Bangalore affiliated to Visvesvaraya
Technological University, Belagavi.

Ms. Lekha H P currently perusing Mr. Puneeth H J received his Bachelor

her Bachelor of Engineering from of Engineering in electronics and
Bangalore Technological Institute (BTI), communication in 2012 from Rajeev
Bangalore affiliated to Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology affiliated to
Technological University, Belagavi. VTU and Master of Technology in
2014 from Adichunchanagiri Institute
of Technology affiliated to VTU. At
present he is serving as Assistant
Professor in Bangalore Technological
Institute (BTI), Bangalore under VTU.
Currently he is a research scholar under
Visvesvaraya Technological University.
His area of interest includes Feature extraction, Network security
Mr. Belli Praveen currently perusing and digital system design
his Bachelor of Engineering from
Bangalore Technological Institute (BTI),
Bangalore affiliated to Visvesvaraya
Technological University, Belagavi.

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