Noninvasive EEG-Based Intelligent Mobile Robots: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Brain-controlled mobile robotics can provide restoration of mobility for individuals with severe physical disabilities and empower healthy people with a broader reachable range in particular environments, which have been flourished over the past twenty years. This paper conducts a systematic state-of-the-art overview of noninvasive EEG-based intelligent mobile robots. We first present the general architecture and basic concepts, typical system types, and main research efforts on the whole-system design. Then, relevant key techniques associated with the brain-machine interfaces (BMIs), control strategies, and robot intelligence are reviewed to elucidate the research progress of the overall system. System performance evaluation is critical and complicated, here we summarize the conditions of the recruited participants, the experimental protocol, tasks and environments, with an emphasis on evaluation metrics regarding BMI performance, navigation performance, system robustness, and the user. We further highlight the remaining challenges and the potential research directions of future work. This study with informative outline is envisioned to enhance current understanding and suggest the future perspectives on EEG-based mobile robotic devices. Note to Practitioners—The brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) can provide a novel and feasible way to convey the users’ intentions to the terminal devices through the brain signals, which has exhibited emerging prospects in both civil and military applications thus having attracted increasing interests in researchers, industries, and government. The integration of noninvasive electroencephalogram (EEG)-based BCIs and expanded wheeled robotics have potentials to improve the human daily life with enhanced level of mobility, exhibiting significant socioeconomic impacts. This paper provides a systematic review of the EEG-based intelligent mobile robots from the aspects of key milestones, key techniques, and performance evaluation. To bring such the next generation assistive products from the laboratory to real applications, this paper further highlights the remaining challenges and shed light on the potential future work.