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The University of Michigan Direct Brain Interface (UM-DBI)
project is unique among brain-computer interface (BCI) research
groups in its combination of many years of BCI research and
close clinical ties to assistive technology service delivery
both through investigator background and sharing offices with
the UM Rehabilitation Engineering Program’s (UMREP) clinical
service. The UM-DBI project was co-founded by Dr. Simon Levine
and Dr. Jane Huggins, the current principal investigator. The
term Direct Brain Interface is intended to emphasize the
function of the BCI as a direct connection between the human
brain and various kinds of technologies (not just computers).
With funding from the National Institute on Disability and
Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) and the National Institutes of
Health (NIH), the UM-DBI project pioneered BCI research based on
electrocorticogram (ECoG) from electrodes implanted inside the
skull.
The UM-DBI project’s close clinical ties have fueled a desire to
see the rapid advance of some form of BCI to clinical
availability and an awareness of the limited nature of many of
the BCI-specific applications developed for BCI operation. The
UM-DBI project’s NIH and NIDRR funded research on BCIs based on
electroencephalogram (EEG) has a particular goal of advancing
BCI technology toward clinical availability. This research
includes interfacing BCIs to commercially available assistive
technologies, improving BCI response time and no-control
performance, identifying features and support necessary for
successful independent BCI use by people with physical
impairments and identifying the design preferences and
priorities of potential BCI users.
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