Navigating through virtual flight environments using brain-body-actuated control

Abstract

Alternative control technologies enable users to control human machine systems without using their hands For example, the Cyberlink/sup TM/ interface, a brain body actuated control technology, employs a combination of EEG and EMG signals produced at the user's forehead to generate computer inputs that can be used for a variety of tasks. An experiment was conducted in which participants used the CyberLink/sup TM/ interface to navigate or "fly" along a virtual flight course displayed on a wide field of view dome display. Tracking performance significantly increased across experimental sessions, while measures of perceived mental workload decreased across sessions. Ratings of cybersickness were relatively low and did not vary across experimental sessions. The results indicate that brain body actuated control, achieved using the CyberLink/sup TM/ interface, provides a viable means for performing simple, single axis, continuous control tasks without using one's hands.