Course syllabus

EEN186 Neural Engineering

Neural engineering lp3 VT26 (7.5 hp), Electrical Engineering Department

1. Course purpose

The purpose of the course is to provide an introduction to Neural Engineering. Subjects such as human/machine interfacing, bioelectric signals and restoration of sensorimotor impairments will be covered. Emphasis will be placed on the clinical application and functional restoration.

2. Schedule

This link will take you to the Chalmers calendar where all EEN186 lectures and labs are timetabled: TimeEdit

3. Course literature

The core textbooks for this course to supplement lectures is: 

1. Horch, K.W. and Kipke, D.R. eds., 2017. Neuroprosthetics: theory and practice (Vol. 8). World Scientific

Which is available as PDF in the Modules section on Canvas.

However, since Neural Engineering is a rapidly developing field a lot of EEN186 lecture content will be based on currently evolving research that may not yet be published in text books. As the course unfolds, relevant references to the newest peer reviewed research papers will be provided instead, this will be continually updated over time and referred to in relevant lectures.

4. Course design

The teaching is given in the form of lectures and a group project which you will work on in the lab sessions.

4.1 Lectures and exam (3.5/7.5hp)

A 4 hour written exam at the end of the course will form a significant part of the course. The exam will be in English.

Include:

• All taught components of the course will be examinable in order to test student comprehension of the material and to ensure the learning objectives have been met.
• The exam is compulsory
• Grades of U (Fail), 3 (Pass), 4 (Pass with credit) or 5 (Pass with special distinction) will be applied
• The exam will not be digital
• The exam will be held on the March 17th, 2026 (to be confirmed).
• You are allowed to bring one A4 page of handwritten notes (one side of the paper) as well as a dictionary.

All lecture notes will be posted.

4.2 Project (4/7.5hp)

The goal of the project is to develop a proof-of-concept of a medical device OR a consumer product.  At the end of the course, a functioning concept is expected and should be shown in the final presentation. For some projects, data measured and treated can make up for the demo (for example, if the application cannot easily be shown).

1. For medical devices, the proof of concept should take into account the condition it will treat and the limitations of the patient group.
2. For consumer product, the proof of concept should take into account the use case, the competition and be well designed.

The project will be done in self-selected groups of 4-5 people. In the labs, you will be given an EMG acquisition device which can also give tactile (vibration) stimulation. A Matlab and Python "class" to communicate with the device will be provided, which means that coding will be in Matlab or Python. Labs should be attended by all group members. It is recommended that everyone have Matlab/Python installed on their machine. 

The grade (pass/fail) will be determined based on scoring of the project report and scoring of the project presentation.

DATES (at the latest)

4.2.1 Project report

Group report:

Each group must write a project report detailing the project and its implementation. The following chapters are expected:

• Introduction (describe the condition or need, and describe how you will solve it)
• Methods (how did you implement your solution, include code snippets, but only describe the most important parts of the code. Figures and diagrams can be useful to explain the implementation)
• Results (Demonstrate that your implementation works by showing data you have recorded. The data should be relevant to the condition or need (introduction) and not simply some raw EMG data)
• Discussion (What went well? What did not work (e.g. if you changed project direction, you can describe it here)

There is no word count on the group report, but I expect you to be concise.

Please include the contributions of each author at the end of the final report.

Writing and submission (group report)

The report can be written in English. The report must be submitted on time. A late submission of the report will result in failing this part of the course *(see 5.1 exemptions for late submissions).

Grading will consider the application of the concepts learned in this course, and not the potential impact of the project. Similarly, when writing about the proof-of-concept part of your project we do not intend to weight the grading too much in favour of the technical success or breadth of your project. If you have successfully achieved the described project outline or the agreed suggested outline, then you will be able to achieve the best score for the report even if you did not go beyond what was outlined. In addition, the following will be assessed:

• The quality of the writing: this means spelling, grammar, structure (e.g. the use of paragraphs, headings, etc..), but also how you take the reader through your report (the reader's journey). You should ensure that the order in which you report information is logical and that everything you want the reader to understand and see is in your report and that you do not reference them away from your document in order to understand something.
• Be clear in your communication: avoid verbosity and repetition. An important skill in good scientific communication is to convey your message with brevity. Figures can help a lot.
• Use of correct permissions for figures: All figures used that are not yours should have a reference.
• Written format: All reports must be written with a minimum of 11pt font (including figure labels) and a minimum 1.15 line spacing.
• Referencing: Only use the IEEE or Vancouver. referencing system (tip. Use Mendeley or Endnote as a source management system)

Submission: Each student submits the group report and the individual chapter as one file. The file should be named group#_EEN186report_26

DATE

For report submission: 11th March 2026 at 11:59 (before noon)

4.2.2 Project presentation

Each group must present their project. Presentations must be 10 minutes or less followed by up to 10 minutes of questions. The aspects below will be marked to determine the grade for the project.

• The flow of the presentation made sense from start to finish
• The presenters demonstrated a comprehensive understanding of their project 
• All members should deliver a significant part of the presentation
• Ensure the presentation is visually engaging including use of all multi media. A live demo is highly appreciated.
  
• Project outcome

If a group member cannot present that person only will fail this part of the course *(see 5.1 exemptions)

DATE

For group presentations will be 11th March.

5. Course management

* 5.1 Exemptions for course deadlines/exams

Exemptions from deadlines and exams are not granted without:

either

Medical/mental health: A signed letter or email from medical doctor or a clinical psychologist stating that you are not well enough to meet the deadline(s) you have requested the letter for.

or

Compassionate grounds: A signed letter or email from a guardian/ legal representative stating that you are not well enough to meet the deadline(s) you have requested the letter for.

Communications must include a return email/postal address and telephone number.

6. Learning objectives and syllabus

Learning objectives:

1.    Explain why we interface humans with machines Relate how we sense input and control output in a healthy body and contrast this in an impaired body.
2.    Define what neural human/machine interfaces are and describe their differing requirements and limitations.
3.    Describe how to interface humans with machines by implanting sensors and using them to stimulate the body.
4.    Show how to record, measure and process bioelectric signals.
5.    Apply machine learning techniques on bioelectric signals.
6.    Demonstrate control of a system, such as a prosthetic limb or a virtual avatar, using bioelectric signals.
7.    Discuss how to restore sensorimotor impairments, for example how to interface a prosthetic hand with an individual who has lost a hand.
8.    Evaluate how to design a neural human machine interface (implantable electrodes predominantly).
9.    Work in a structured way together in groups and document planning and progress.

Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen.