1. Performance Analysis of Brain Control Interface in Drone ApplicationsCS
User Interface Engineering
Ahmad Alissa, Josh Cooper
Kade Randall, Adnan Rashied
Eric Rawls, Cheyenne Sancho,
Jason Walters, Heather Rego
Dr. Sarah North, Advisor
Mentor for Research Project
URCS-15
Apparatus
Abstract
The main objective of this study is to find efficient methods to utilize brain control interface in conjunction with aerial drones. The study investigates how effective the EPOC+ is by challenging users of diverse genders and ages to complete tasks using mental commands or facial expressions to control a Parrot AR-Drone 2.0.  
Drone front camera while being controlled with the EPOC+ headset
Drone demo, being controlled by the MindDrone app
Results
Research question and Null Hypothesis
-Research Question
Is there a significant difference in difficulty between facial expression and mental command?
-Null Hypothesis
There is no significant difference in difficulty between the user’s ability to control the drone using mental or facial commands.
Figure 2: Average Response Pre vs. Post Survey Facial Commands
Figure 1: Average Response Pre vs. Post Survey Mental Commands
URIT-15
Subjects prepping for Cube Test to practice Mental Commands
Subject’s Emotion Data recorded on the Emotiv Xavier Composer
Conclusion
20 Applicants were tested, 10 male and 10 female. The applicants did not report significant difference between difficulty readings for the facial commands vs. the mental commands. Male applicants had great success with the ‘cube test’, but had less success with controlling the drone. Female applicants had great results controlling both the cube AND the drone.
Your brain is a muscle to be trained just like any other: through constant practice and testing. Based on the accumulated test results, we noticed that female applicants had an easier time adapting to the brain control than the male applicants.
Method
Figure 3: Comparison of Difficulty Results
Participants were subjected to three tests. The first test was the cube test, where the study was completed by having the user control a cube on an interactive graphical user interface (GUI) to test their abilities,. The second test, participants were tasked with controlling a Parrot drone using the same mind control practices as the cube.
The third test was controlling the Parrot drone using a mixture of mental commands and facial commands.
Participants
This study was conducted using twenty participants (n = 20) both male and female, ten (10) male and ten (10) female, with ages greater than or equal to eighteen (18). Participants were randomly selected from a User Interface Engineering class as well as from around campus. The study was completed by having the user control a cube on an interactive graphical user interface (GUI) to test their abilities, and to calibrate the system.