Abdelkader Nasreddine Belkacem

Abdelkader Nasreddine Belkacem is an Assistant Professor at Osaka University in Japan. He received his Ph.D. from The Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2015. Dr. Belkacem’s research focuses on innovative neuro-engineering applications for enhancing the performances of brain-machine interfaces. With this technology, the human brain activity can be translated into useful commands to help people with severe motor disabilities to control machines and communicate through computers with the external environment.

In 2014, while still working on his Ph.D., Belkacem found a new practical electrode position behind the ear to record eye movements from brain activity (EEG) to improve existing eye-tracking devices and succeeded to control a video game in real-time using his own idea. This proof of concept work has a huge impact on enhancing the performance of many handicapped people.

Furthermore, he proposed the first decoding/control system for distinguish among four bilateral hand movements by using single-trial magnetoencephalography (MEG) signals to control Geminoid (human-like robot) as a new approach to enhance a user’s ability (human multitasking) to interact with a complex environment through a multidimensional BMI.