Influence of electrode placement on the recognition of different gesture categories using high-density sEMG

High-density surface electromyography (HD-sEMG)-based gesture recognition serves as a critical interface for human-computer interaction (HCI). However, recognition accuracy exhibits a significant dependency on gesture complexity and electrode positioning. To address this, we systematically investigated the relationship between gesture types and sEMG electrode placement locations through intra-subject, inter-day, and inter-subject validation protocols. Two distinct gesture categories were analyzed, i.e., single-degree-of-freedom (single-DoF) gestures and daily-used multi-finger synergistic gestures. Using an open-access gesture dataset, HD-sEMG signals were acquired from three forearm regions: the distal wrist, mid-forearm, and proximal elbow, separately. Classification results using support vector machine (SVM) revealed that single-DoF gestures achieved peak accuracy with distal wrist signals (98.63% for intra-subject, 79.73% for inter-day, and 75.47% for inter-subject validation protocols), whereas daily-used gestures performed optimally with signals from the mid-forearm and proximal elbow regions. These findings demonstrate the specific relationship between electrode placement and gesture type, providing valuable insights for EMG-HCI design and sensor placement strategies based on the nature of the target gesture.