IMU-Based Wrist Rotation Control of a Transradial Myoelectric Prosthesis.
This paper describes a control method intended to facilitate improved control of a myoelectric prosthesis containing a wrist rotator. Rather than exclusively utilizing electromyogram (EMG) for the control of all myoelectric components (e.g., a hand and a wrist), the proposed controller utilizes inertial measurement (from six-axis inertial measurement unit (IMU)) to sense upper arm abduction/adduction, and uses this input to command a wrist rotation velocity. As such, the controller essentially substitutes shoulder abduction/adduction in place of agonist/antagonist EMG to control wrist angular velocity, which preserves EMG for control of the hand (or other arm components). As a preliminary assessment of efficacy, the control method was implemented on a transradial prosthesis prototype with a powered wrist rotator and hand, and experimentally assessed on five able-bodied subjects who wore the prototype using an able-bodied adaptor and one transradial amputee subject while performing assessments representative of activities of daily living. The assessments compared the (timed) performance of the combined EMG/ IMU-based control method with a (conventional) sequential EMG control approach. Results of the assessment indicate that the able-bodied subjects were able to perform the tasks 33% faster on average with the EMG/IMU-based method, relative to a conventional sequential EMG method. The same assessment was subsequently conducted using a single transradial amputee subject, which resulted in similar performance trends, although with a somewhat lessened effect size-specifically, the amputee subject was on average 22% faster in performing tasks with the IMU-based controller.
Daniel A
DA
Bennett
Michael
M
Goldfarb
D000328:Adult; D000465:Algorithms; D000674:Amputees; D001186:Artificial Limbs; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D004576:Electromyography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012399:Rotation; D014953:Wrist / Q000502:physiology*; D014955:Wrist Joint; D055815:Young Adult