Action interference in simultaneous and proportional myocontrol: comparing force- and electromyography

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Rehabilitation Technology
• Neuroprosthetics

Background:

• Myocontrol, using muscle signals for prosthesis control, remains challenging.
• Surface electromyography (sEMG) is the standard but has limitations.
• Multi-modal myocontrol, combining techniques, aims to enhance dexterity and reliability.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct an online assessment of multi-modal myocontrol using sEMG and force myography (FMG).
• To evaluate the effectiveness of sEMG and FMG for hand and wrist prosthesis control.

Main Methods:

• Utilized 20 sEMG and FMG sensors for simultaneous and proportional control.
• Tested hand opening/closing, wrist pronation/supination, and wrist flexion/extension.
• Included 12 intact subjects in the study.

Main Results:

• Force myography (FMG) generally outperformed surface electromyography (sEMG).
• sEMG's primary limitation was action interference (unintended concurrent activation).
• FMG demonstrated significantly less action interference compared to sEMG.

Conclusions:

• FMG offers a promising alternative or supplement to sEMG for myocontrol.
• Multi-modal approaches integrating FMG can improve prosthesis control.
• Reduced interference from FMG enhances the potential for more intuitive prosthetic function.