Brain-computer interfaces: the OpenViBE project is presented to the press

Project partners: INRIA, Inserm, Association Française contre les Myopathies, GIPSA LAB, FRANCE TELECOM R&D

Brain-computer interfaces are systems which enable the electrical signals related to cerebral activity (electroencephalograms) to be processed and translated into commands for machines. Hence, they make it possible for a person to communicate with a computer or any automated system without using his hands to activate buttons or a remote control, and indeed without requiring the use of muscular force. These interfaces offer many prospects in terms of applications, whether in the field of health or in the area of multimedia.
In consideration of such issues, in 2005 French researchers launched the OpenViBE project, the first national-scale, collaborative research project dedicated to brain-computer interfaces. The system relies on the analysis of signals coming from electrodes in an electroencephalographic helmet (EEG), signals which are characteristic of the electrical activity of the brain. The number of electrodes varies according to the functions of the brain concerned and the type of application being researched. The project, which made possible the development of free software for promising applications, was presented to the press on 13 May 2009. Financed by the French national research agency (ANR), OpenViBE has brought together INRIA and INSERM together with four other partners, among them LIST, each active in a specific scientific area. Mobilising the players from institutions, associations and industry, the project has benefited strongly from interactions between fundamental research, experimentation and technical developments and was labelled the “PHARE project” by the ANR.
Within the consortium, LIST investigated and developed an algorithm for optimisation of spatial filtering to extract the response of the brain to stimulations. The challenge lies in the reception by each electrode of a mixture of signals coming from different areas of activity of the brain. By linear combination, it is possible to concentrate the cerebral response to visual or audio stimulations (the "evoked potentials") on several channels and to render them detectable in real-time with increased reliability. This method, notably, enabled improvements in the performance of one of the demonstration applications presented, P300-Speller, intended to compose sentences by using thought to select letters displayed on a screen.

In the longer term, OpenViBE will permit applications to be envisaged such as writing by thought and video games where virtual navigation is achieved by thought. This is the objective of the OpenViBE2 project which has just been selected for funding by the ANR in the "Contents and Interactions" call. It will start in 2009 and include some new partners such as Ubisoft (a video games company).