By David Delahunty and Henry Poskitt
Based in Campus Biotech in Geneva, the Wyss Center conducts world-class neurological research through collaboration with academia and industry. Their aim is to advance understanding of the brain to realize therapies and improve lives.
NeuroKey™ is their next-level brain data visualisation platform. The software combines and processes data from brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) and other monitoring devices in real time. It extracts information and generates commands to control assistive devices that can help restore mobility, communication, and independence for people with paralysis or other nervous system disorders.
Frontend worked with the Wyss Center to improve the User Interface (UI) of their medical-grade NeuroKey platform which is classified as a Class-1 medical device CE (Conformité Européenne). The UI solution we created together with the Wyss Center had to be flexible, expandible, powerful, and above all, usable.
The UI design challenge beyond the visualisation of the system was accommodating the varied contexts of use — everything from researchers, to clinicians, to home carers, or even friends and family. This meant we had to tailor a view of the platform for each context and then develop a coherent architecture and design language to tie them all together.
Contexts of use
Researchers and clinicians can use NeuroKey to quickly configure inputs in a research environment to extract information and generate real-time control signals to drive assistive devices or stimulate nerves to restore movement.
The UI design for NeuroKey needed to be suitable for use at home as well as in the clinic to realise its potential to give people with paralysis a new level of independence.
The UI solution architecture needed to be modular and expandable. In an ever-evolving environment, NeuroKey needs to work with any current or future BCIs, interconnect with the user’s own processing technology, and integrate with native and third-party applications.
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