Two students of University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Mardan have developed a prototype of electroencephalogram-based wheelchair. That will benefit the quadriplegic patients by being controlled through the brain.
Mohammad Dawood and Mohammad Faizan Akhtar, students of UET Mardan, under the supervision of Dr. Jawad Ali, developed the prototype of EEG-based brain controlled wheelchair. The model includes an electroencephalogram (EEG) headset and a battery-powered wheelchair. The wheelchair can carry load or a human being of up to 250 kilograms with its powerful motors. The headset picks up signals from the brain when the person thinks about moving in forward, backward, left and right directions. The signals are transmitted to Arduino (microcontroller) to give commands to motors for moving according to thinking of a patient.
The wheelchair has a physical joystick besides brain signal processing Bluetooth gadget for forward, backward, left and right movement. It can be used by any brain while wearing the electroencephalogram (EEG) headset.
Mohammad Dawood, one of the students, says that “most wheelchairs are used by elders and partially disabled people. They face difficulties moving electrical and mechanical wheelchairs.”
Dawood said that they tried to overcome the difficulties of wheelchair-users to a great extent. Their goal was to design a system that receives signals from the brain and moves accordingly. By system, they mean an accumulator sensor. The sensor converts the raw form of a signal into an electrical signal. The wheel chair can be controlled through different waves, such as alpha, beta, gamma, delta and theta, produced in the brain.
The other student, Mohammad Faizan Akhtar, said that the wheelchair would make the lives of patients easier. He said that the wheelchair could be used by any person with an active brain.
UET Mardan Vice-chancellor Prof. Imran Khan appreciated the efforts of students. He said that such projects required very little effort to become a commercial product. He claimed that the university administration was committed to providing maximum facilities to students.
