Evaluation of User-Prosthesis-Interfaces for sEMG-Based Multifunctional Prosthetic Hands

Sensors (Basel). 2021 Oct 26;21(21):7088. doi: 10.3390/s21217088.

Abstract

The complexity of the user interfaces and the operating modes present in numerous assistive devices, such as intelligent prostheses, influence patients to shed them from their daily living activities. A methodology to evaluate how diverse aspects impact the workload evoked when using an upper-limb bionic prosthesis for unilateral transradial amputees is proposed and thus able to determine how user-friendly an interface is. The evaluation process consists of adapting the same 3D-printed terminal device to the different user-prosthesis-interface schemes to facilitate running the tests and avoid any possible bias. Moreover, a study comparing the results gathered by both limb-impaired and healthy subjects was carried out to contrast the subjective opinions of both types of volunteers and determines if their reactions have a significant discrepancy, as done in several other studies.

Keywords: assistive robotics; electromyography; upper-limb prosthesis; user-prosthesis interface.

MeSH terms

  • Activities of Daily Living
  • Amputees*
  • Artificial Limbs*
  • Electromyography
  • Hand
  • Humans
  • Prosthesis Design