Virtual Smart Home Controlled by Thoughts

An electroencephalogram (EEG) based brain-computer interface (BCI) was connected to a virtual reality (VR) system in order to control a smart home application. Therefore special control masks were developed which allowed using the P300 component of the EEG as input signal for the BCI system. Control commands for switching TV channels, for opening and closing doors and windows, for navigation and conversation were realized. Experiments with 12 subjects were made to investigate the speed and accuracy that can be achieved if several hundred of commands are used to control the smart home environment. The study clearly shows that such a BCI system can be used for smart home control. The virtual reality approach is a very cost effective way for testing the smart home environment together with the BCI system.