Functional Tasks Performed by People with Severe Muscular Atrophy Using an sEMG Controlled Robotic Manipulator

For paralyzed people activities of daily living like eating or drinking are impossible without external assistance. Robotic assistance systems can give these people a part of their independence back. Especially if the operation with a joystick is not possible anymore due to a missing hand function, people need innovative interfaces to control assistive robots in 3D. Besides brain computer interfaces an approach based on surface electromyography (sEMG) can present an opportunity for people with a strong muscular atrophy. In this work we show that two people with proceeded spinal muscular atrophy can perform functional tasks using an sEMG controlled robotic manipulator. The interface provides a continuous control of three degrees of freedom of the endeffector of the robot. The performance was assessed with two clinical measures of upper limb functionality: the Box and Blocks Test and the Action Research Arm Test. Additionally, the participant could show that they can drink by themselves with the provided system.