Comparison of Motor Imagery Brain Computer Interfaces and Validation with the OpenBCI EEG Electrode Cap

Abstract

People with Tetraplegia will typically require costly, round-the-clock care over the course of their lives due to lack of motor function. Brain computer interfaces (BCIs) are capable of identifying imagined motor intention for individual limbs; however, high-cost electroencephalography (EEG) devices are typically used. In this paper, a comparison of 4 published motor imagery (MI) BCIs is undertaken. BCI Competition IV Dataset 2b is used to benchmark the four and the relatively low-cost OpenBCI EEG cap is then used with each, in a custom experiment. Results obtained from the OpenBCI EEG cap suggest that it is suitable for MI tasks, though this should be confirmed with a larger sample. Also, 2 of the 4 MI BCI’s stand out for decoding accuracy, though all performed well.