Patient-therapist collaborative BCI-VR motor neurorehabilitation after stroke

Investigators: Nina Evetović, Arina Polyanskaya, Roman Rosipal, Zuzana Rošťáková

Integrated brain-computer interface (BCI) and virtual reality (VR) technologies provide a flexible platform for a series of neurorehabilitation therapies based on motor imagery in patients after stroke. However, these approaches lack the social aspect and human interaction. As part of our research, we successfully designed an intelligent BCI system in which the patient and therapist collaborate through their avatars within a VR environment. This system enables the creation and selection of various occupational therapy scenarios according to the patient’s recovery needs, mental state, and immediate responses [3]. Using machine learning methods – particularly neural networks, N-way partial least squares, and tensor decomposition – we also investigated the possibilities of monitoring mental fatigue levels during VR-based rehabilitation [1], EEG signal preprocessing [2, 5], and oscillatory EEG rhythms detection [4].

Projects: 101118964-DONUT, 09I03-03-V04-00205, 09I03-03-V04-00443, APVV-21-0105

Fig. 1: Diagram illustrating the collaborative brain-computer interface and virtual reality (BCI-VR) environment designed for neurorehabilitation of patients after ischemic stroke.

 

Publications:

  • poster presented in the 2025 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), Vienna, AustriaEvetović, N. – Rosipal, R. – Polyanskaya, A. – Rošťáková, Z. – Trejo, L.J. Assessment of Mental Fatigue in Healthy Participants During Extended BCI-HMD Sessions
  • Avin, O. – Almagor, O. – Noah, Y. – Rosipal, R. – Shriki, O. Supervised autoencoder denoiser for non-stationarity in multi-session EEG-based BCI. In Journal of Neural Engineering, 2025, vol. 22, art. no. 026043. (2024: 3.8 – IF, Q2 – JCR, 1.127 – SJR, Q1 – SJR). ISSN 1741-2560. Available on: https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-2552/adc48e
  • Rosipal, R. – Evetović, N. – Rošťáková, Z. – Polyanskaya, A. – Vankó, M. – Korečko, Š. – Sobota, B. – Porubcová, Natália – Trejo, L.J. Collaborative virtual reality BCI post-stroke neurorehabilitation using head-mounted displays. In Proceedings of the 11th International BCI Meeting. – Graz, Austria : Verlag der Technischen Universität Graz, 2025, p. 32. ISBN 978-3-99161-050-2. Available on: https://doi.org/10.3217/978-3-99161-050-2-032
  • Rošťáková, Z. – Rosipal, R. – Evetović, N. Halfway between CP and Tucker model: PARALIND analysis of human electroencephalogram. In Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Measurement. – Bratislava, Slovakia : Institute of Measurement Science, SAS, 2025, p. 14-17. ISBN 978-80-69159-01-3. Available on: https://doi.org/10.23919/MEASUREMENT66999.2025.11078699
  • Noah, Y. – Rosipal, R. – Shriki, O. Mitigating EEG non-stationarity in multi-session MI BCI with autoencoder denoisers. In Proceedings of the 11th International BCI Meeting. – Graz, Austria : Verlag der Technischen Universität Graz, 2025, p. 11. ISBN 978-3-99161-050-2. Available on: https://doi.org/10.3217/978-3-99161-050-2-011