B2CI 2019: The IEEE Brain to Computer Interface Competition’s Gaming Event

The IEEE Baltimore Section sponsored B2CI 2019, the collegiate Brain to Computer Interface competition, to strengthen their relationships with local university and college engineering departments. A primary goal was to use the processing of brain waves as a mechanism for exciting students about electrical engineering principles and the systems engineering build approach. An ancillary goal was to raise student awareness as to the limitations of computer games for disabled players. The competition was designed to motivate students by providing three alternative events in which to compete. One of the events was the brain-controlled computer game contest. Universities were invited to organize teams to design and code games that utilized EEG signals from a headset as a significant part of the game play. This paper describes the EEG technology, details on the brain-controlled computer game event, and lessons learned for future competitions.