UC researcher develops low cost and reusable “wearable EEG”

Manuel Reis Carneiro, researcher at the Systems and Robotics Institute (ISR) of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra (FCTUC) has developed a wearable, low cost and reusable electronic device which allows performing electroencephalograms in a much more comfortable way and during longer periods than the currently used technology.

Thus, in the future, an EEG will be much more simple and comfortable for the patient.

This innovative device is based on flexible electronics, a technology that makes it possible to create elastic (malleable) electronic circuits. It consists of a textile band with ultra-thin flexible electrodes, produced with a special ink that facilitates the interface between the electronic device and brain activity, developed at the "Soft and Printed Microelectronics" Laboratory (SPM-UC) as part of another research project - Stretchtronics.

Currently, electroencephalography is performed with rigid metallic electrodes placed on the scalp, which becomes uncomfortable after some time. In addition, current systems are large, use many wires, take time to prepare, and require a skilled technician, confining patient monitoring to a laboratory or hospital.

The “wearable EEG” developed by the ISR researcher overcomes these limitations and can be “placed on the patient extremely easily and quickly by anyone and, as it is textile and the electrodes are highly flexible, allows longer examinations, because it does not become uncomfortable, granting the same quality of the current devices used in medicine », explains Manuel Reis Carneiro.

Initially designed to be used in emergency services, "where a specialist technician is not always available for the examination, thus enabling any professional to put the device and get to know the patient's condition", the application potential of this wearable device is vast, says the researcher.

“By allowing the human-machine interface, for example, a quadriplegic person can control a wheelchair through brain activity. On the other hand, as it is a very inexpensive wireless device, it can also be used for remote medical examinations (telemedicine), i.e., data can be acquired anywhere in the world and analysed remotely by a specialist doctor in a hospital. It can also be applied in cases where continuous monitoring of the brain's electrical activity is required”, he highlights.

Following successful laboratory testing, the researcher and his team intend to move towards clinical validation in order to place this wearable device on the market. "The device is working, effective in acquiring brain activity, simple and inexpensive (the textile band costs between 1 and 2 euros), so we want the technology to hit the market," concludes Manuel Reis Carneiro.

Funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and the Carnegie Mellon Portugal Program (CMU Portugal), the project was developed in the scope of the researcher's master's thesis, supervised by Mahmoud Tavakoli, professor and director of the “Soft and Printed Microelectronic”, and was recently distinguished in the“ Fraunhofer Portugal Challenge 2019 ” ideas contest.

^{Translation by Diana Taborda}