BINUS UNIVERSITY Research Develops Unique Wheelchair

Rehabilitative and assistive technologies have helped restore or improve the function of people who suffer from disabilities due to ageing, disease, or injury. The research involved in developing such technology consists of applying engineering and scientific principles to study how people with disabilities function in society. By applying these principles, BINUS UNIVERSITY researcher and lecturer Prof. Dr Widodo Budiharto and his research team, consisting of students Ms Jennifer Santoso and Mr Ivan Halim Parmonangan, developed a wheelchair that can automatically move by receiving commands from receptors in the user’s brain.

Using Brain-Computer Interface technology, EEG (Encephalography) signals created by the brain’s neurons are captured using a special neuroheadset. The signal is then sent to an Application Software which will convert it and drive a small motor fitted onto the wheelchair. To improve the accuracy rate of the system, the research team applied a Support Vector Machine (SVM), a popular algorithm for classification learning.

The project earned the research team 2nd place at the National Student Competition in the field of Information and Technology. Furthermore, Prof. Budiharto was voted as one of Indonesia’s top 15 lecturers of 2015, and in recognition of his work, the team were also able to showcase their project at the 2016 International Conference on Robotics and Vision in Tokyo, Japan.

As a world-class institution committed to research, BINUS UNIVERSITY strives to make available grants, funding opportunities, and facilities to support wide-ranging research initiatives. This has made the university a highly-proficient partner for industry leaders as its research projects can propose and provide effective solutions for a large variety of sectors.