Cybernetics in Biomedicine is related to Biomedical Engineering, Human Movement Science, Physiology, Dynamic Systems Theory, Instrumentation, Embedded Systems and Control Engineering. It thus overlaps with many of the department's other research fields. Activities in this field represent the application of methods from cybernetics and control engineering to problems that are related to the human body, mainly in a health perspective.
Our research activities include the following areas:
Multi-modal Biomedical Instrumentation
Model Based Diagnosis, Treatment and Assessment
Movement Analysis
Biosignal Processing and Classification
Rehabilitation Engineering
Integration of Artificial and Biological Neural Systems
Applications:
Automatic Glucose Control in Diabetes (Artificial Pancreas)
Early Diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy
Analysis and Diagnosis of Neck Movements
Robot-Assisted Motor Rehabilitation
Prosthesis Control Systems
Brain Cybernetics
To control one's environment through thoughts had been, until recently, in the realm of science fiction or considered to be a remote dream. However, with the technology available today, humans can use the electrical signals from brain activity to interact with, influence, or change their environments. Our research focuses on creating a direct path of communication between the brain and a target in the external world based on EEG systems with optimized number of electrodes for various neuroparadigms. For that purpose, we use experimental and theoretical methods as well as computer simulations, to develop and explore optimization frameworks and AI models based on Electroencephalography (EEG) measurements and translate them into commands for the actuation of devices like drones, games or biometric systems to identify people. In these videos (NRK video, EEG-MI) we show the control of drones resorting to the EEG motor imagery (MI) signals from the scalp. The long- term goal of the research is to contribute with a better understanding of the mechanism involved in direct communication with the brain to advance our ability to interface technology with the human brain.
Research topics
Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) with static and moving electrodes.
Design and control of a robotic system with moving electrodes for EEG measurements, FlexEEG
Channel optimization of EEG systems to selected neuroparadigms.
EEG source imaging: computational models of the human brain for solving the EEG inverse problem.
Non-linear and non-stationary signals analysis.
Applications areas
Industrial domains such as biometric authentication and access control systems, subject and sex identification
Brain controlled appliances for home automation and continuous monitoring of high-risk population (elderly)
EEG-based alcohol detection systems for monitoring drivers
EEG-based mental stress detection systems
EEG-based emotion identification systems
EEG-based dream decoder
RGB primary colors neural signature decoding
Detection and prediction of Epileptic seizures with minimal EEG channels
Automatic sleep stage classification based on minimally invasive EEG.
EEG-based lie detector systems
Decoding of hand movement intention for Neurofeedback design
Ocean and biology
Fish and other seafood represent an abundant and increasingly important source of healthy food for a growing world population. Observing and understanding the dynamics of the oceans as well as managing, harvesting and culturing its resources in sustainable ways require knowledge and smart technological solutions.
Our research on ocean, fisheries and aquaculture systems focuses on how engineering cybernetics and its accompanying enabling technologies such as automatic control, smart sensors and monitoring systems, can be applied to better understand the processes of the sea and enhance the design and operation of marine biological production and harvesting systems. Important topics include systems biology, mathematical modelling of biological processes and production systems, aquaculture process control, biogeochemical modelling, data assimilation, underwater robotics, marine instrumentation and aquatic telemetry.
Applications
Modelling and simulation of the physiology, behaviour and growth of fish and plankton
Control systems for fish and plankton production processes
Specialised instrumentation and sensor solutions for aquaculture systems
Smart technologies for ocean observation
Acoustic fish telemetry and underwater communication
