A hands free browser using EEG and voice inputs

Mobile web browsers are increasing in usage due to the widespread use of various mobile devices including smartphones and wearables. It is useful to enable such browsers to have hands free functionality to enable people to use them when their hands are occupied when driving or performing other tasks. A hands free browser would be also useful for disabled or paralyzed people. In this paper we describe the design of a hands free browser. It uses EEG inputs using a NeuroSky EEG sensor, as well as voice inputs. Various functions in the browser including add to favorites, scroll up or down, next and previous tab, open an URL that is part of the favorites, are mapped to varying attention and blink levels recognized by the EEG sensor. Maintaining of the concentration level higher than a threshold enables the user to cycle through a list of items, which could be menu items or history items or most visited sites in the browser. A deliberate double blink enables the user to open the currently selected URL or menu item. Other functionalities are performed using voice in a way that is more intuitive and user friendly. We describe the browser architecture and various implementation issues, as well as some screenshots from the implementation.