Connectionists: OpenViBE software for BCI and realtime neuroscience : official release

[Yann Renard]

We are proud to announce the release of *OpenViBE*
<http://openvibe.inria.fr>, an opensource platform that enables to
design, test and use Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI). Broadly
speaking, OpenViBE can be used in many real-time Neuroscience applications.

The OpenViBE platform stands out for its high modularity. It addresses
the needs of different types of users (programmers and non-programmers)
and proposes a user-friendly graphical language which allows
non-programmers to design a BCI without writing a single line of code.

OpenViBE is portable, independent of hardware or software targets, can
run under Windows and Linux and is entirely based on free and
open-source software. OpenViBE is compatible with MATLAB
programming.

OpenViBE comes with preconfigured scenarios and runs already existing
applications such as :

    * BCI based on motor imagery
    * P300 speller
    * Neurofeedback
    * Real-time visualization of brain activity in 2D or 3D

OpenViBE is available under the terms of the LGPL-v2+. The
whole software is developed in C++. It consists of a set of software
modules that can be integrated easily and efficiently to design BCI
applications such as for Virtual Reality interaction. Key features
of the platform are:

    * *Modularity and reusability* Our platform is a set of software
      modules dedicated to the acquisition, pre-processing, processing
      and visualization of cerebral data, as well as to the interaction
      with VR displays. OpenViBE is a general purpose software, which
      implies users should be able to easily add new software modules in
      order to fit their particular needs.
    * *Different tools for various users* OpenViBE is designed for
      different types of user: clinicians, signal processing
      researchers, computer/human interaction developers etc. Their
      various needs are addressed and different tools are proposed for
      each of them, depending on their programming skills and their
      knowledge in brain processes.
    * *Portable software* The platform operates independently from the
      different software and hardware targets. It includes an
      abstraction allowing to run with various acquisition machines,
      such as EEG or MEG. It can run on Windows and Linux and also
      includes different data visualisation techniques.
    * *Connection with virtual reality* Our software can be integrated
      with high-end VR applications. OpenViBE can serve as an external
      peripheral to connect a BCI system to any kind of VR application.
      It also takes advantage of VR displays , allowing to visualize
      cerebral activity more efficiently or to provide incentive
      training environments (e.g., for neurofeedback).

If you want more details, check these links :

*Website*
<http://openvibe.inria.fr>

*Quick introduction video* :
<http://openvibe.inria.fr/video.php?q=video-openvibe-introduction-en>

*Software download* :
<http://openvibe.inria.fr/?q=download>

*One-hour training session video* :
<http://openvibe.inria.fr/video.php?q=video-designer-training-fr&playlist=true>

*Screenshots and videos* :
<http://openvibe.inria.fr/?q=medias>

We will demonstrate OpenViBE in Berlin, Germany, july 8th-10th at the
BBCI workshop <http://bbci.agilemeetings.com>. For latest news, check
our website at <http://openvibe.inria.fr>.

Looking forward to your feedback, we hope you'll enjoy working with
OpenViBE as we do. Feel free to join us and to spread the word... Many
people did this already <http://openvibe.inria.fr/?q=contributions> !

Best regards,
The OpenViBE consortium

*Contact* :
Project Leader : Anatole Lécuyer, INRIA (anatole.lecuyer at irisa.fr)
Lead Software Engineer : Yann Renard, INRIA (yann.renard at irisa.fr)