Boccia is a Paralympic sport built for people with limited mobility, but it does not fully accommodate players with severe motor disabilities and communication difficulties. The team paired a BCI with an assistive ramp so that a user could control the delivery of the ball through brain signals.
The study used a mixed-methods approach: semi-structured interviews with 6 caregivers about their child’s experience with BCI, plus a newly developed 21-item survey that collected feedback from 6 children themselves. The work identified current barriers and facilitators to sport participation, along with the benefits and foreseeable difficulties of adopting BCI technology.
The authors say BCI-leveraged sport shows promise for caregivers and children with QCP, but that successful implementation requires addressing barriers and facilitators so children can reach activities that were previously unattainable. The paper does not report actual use outcomes or clinical endpoints for the ramp.