Action interference in simultaneous and proportional myocontrol: comparing force- and electromyography. (23rd March 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nowak, Markus; Eiband, Thomas; Ramírez, Eduardo Ruiz; Castellini, Claudio
• Is Part Of: Journal of neural engineering. Volume 17:Number 2(2020:Apr.)
• Publication Date: 2020-03-23
• Subjects: myocontrol -- surface electromyography -- force myography -- prosthetics -- target achievement control -- action interference; Neurosciences -- Periodicals; Biomedical engineering -- Periodicals; 612.8
• DOI: 10.1088/1741-2552/ab7b1e
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1741-2560

Abstract

Abstract: Myocontrol, that is, control of a prosthesis via muscle signals, is still a surprisingly hard problem. Recent research indicates that surface electromyography (sEMG), the traditional technique used to detect a subject's intent, could proficiently be replaced, or conjoined with, other techniques (multi-modal myocontrol), with the aim to improve both on dexterity and reliability. Objective . In this paper we present an online assessment of multi-modal sEMG and force myography (FMG) targeted at hand and wrist myocontrol. Approach . Twenty sEMG and FMG sensors in total were used to enforce simultaneous and proportional control of hand opening/closing, wrist pronation/supination and wrist flexion/extension of 12 intact subjects. Main results and Significance . We found that FMG yields in general a better performance than sEMG, and that the main drawback of the sEMG array we used is not the inability to perform a desired action, but rather action interference, that is, the undesired concurrent activation of another action. FMG, on the other hand, causes less interference.