title: Toward synergy-based brain-machine interfaces.
abstract: This paper demonstrates a synergy-based brain-machine interface that uses low-dimensional command signals to control a high dimensional virtual hand. First, temporal postural synergies were extracted from the angular velocities of finger joints of five healthy subjects when they performed hand movements that were similar to activities of daily living. Two synergies inspired from the extracted synergies, namely, two-finger pinch and whole-hand grasp, were used in real-time brain control, where a virtual hand with 10 degrees of freedom was controlled to grasp or pinch virtual objects. These two synergies were controlled by electrocorticographic (ECoG) signals recorded from two electrodes of an electrode array that spanned motor and speech areas of an individual with intractable epilepsy, thus demonstrating closed loop control of a synergy-based brain-machine interface.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. rkv3@pitt.edu
authors.forename: Ramana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vinjamuri
authors.forename: Douglas J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Zhi-Hong
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Collinger
authors.forename: Alan D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Degenhart
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.forename: Michael L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Boninger
authors.forename: Elizabeth C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Tyler-Kabara
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008328:Man-Machine Systems; D008962:Models, Theoretical