ECE Final Year Project won the Silver Prize of HKEIA Innovation & Technology Project Competition Award 2017
One of ECE final year projects named “Brain-Controlled Wheelchair" by AHMED Saif, BEN AYED Ahmed & MEHTA Jainam Bharatkumar*, supervised by Prof. Jianan QU, has won the Silver Prize of HKEIA Innovation & Technology Project Competition Award 2017. The team will receive a cash prize in the amount of HK$20,000 with a certificate of merit.
The award will be presented to the team at the award presentation ceremony in the HKEIA Annual Dinner on 13 October 2017 at Grand Hyatt Hotel.
The same project has previously received Best Student Team Award at the HKUST One Million Dollar Competition 2017 and ECE Best FYP Demo Award 2017
Project Summary:
[Brain-Controlled Wheelchair]
Paralyzed or tetraplegic people face a huge challenge when it comes to personal mobility. Traditional motorized wheelchairs are hard to control, and sometimes not possible, for those with severe disabilities. With a brain-computer interface for wheelchairs, we aim to make moving around much easier for those with physical limitations, giving back their freedom.
In this project, we designed a custom amplifier circuit to reliably extract EEG signals (brain waves) through electrodes placed on the scalp. We then applied signal processing and filtering techniques to clean and process the data. A machine learning model using feed-forward neural networks was applied to the data, to extract the desired features. The main control signals investigated are right and left-hand motion, concentration and occipital signals. A GUI was also designed to assist in data acquisition and visualization of the results.
We achieved promising results overall, with 85% accuracy, in controlling the wheelchair to move in the desired direction. Furthermore, the machine learning model enables our system to learn and improve over time, given more data. We believe this project will revolutionize life for the tetraplegic letting them control the wheelchair’s navigation, using only the power of one’s brain and thoughts.
About the Competition:
The objective of the HKEIA Innovation & Technology Project Competition is to recognize and reward students with outstanding final year projects which demonstrate excellence in technology and innovation. All the submitted projects are judged on the basis of creativity, applicability and practicability, application of technology.
