A Prototype System for High Frame Rate Ultrasound Imaging based Prosthetic Arm Control

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Robotics
• Human-Machine Interfaces

Background:

• Effective control of prosthetic hands remains a significant challenge.
• Surface electromyography (sEMG) faces limitations like electrode displacement and signal interference.
• Ultrasound imaging presents a promising alternative for muscle activity recognition due to higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and fewer hardware constraints.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a prototype system utilizing high frame rate ultrasound imaging for prosthetic arm control.
• To develop a virtual robotic hand simulation mimicking human hand movements.
• To evaluate the performance of a classification model for hand gesture recognition.

Main Methods:

• Development of a high frame rate ultrasound imaging system.
• Implementation of a virtual robotic hand simulation.
• Design and testing of a classification model for four distinct hand gestures.

Main Results:

• The proposed ultrasound imaging system demonstrated effective control capabilities.
• The virtual robotic hand simulation successfully mimicked human hand actions.
• The classification model achieved over 90% accuracy in recognizing hand gestures.

Conclusions:

• Ultrasound imaging offers a viable and advanced approach for prosthetic hand control.
• The developed system serves as a platform for future research in prosthetic control strategies.
• This technology has the potential to significantly improve the naturalness and functionality of prosthetic limbs.