Assessment of a multigrasp myoelectric control approach for use by transhumeral amputees

The authors have previously developed a multigrasp myoelectric controller, and assessed the ability of healthy subjects to control the configuration of a multigrasp hand prosthesis using musculature on the anterior and posterior aspects of the forearm, as would be representative of controller use by a transradial amputee population. In this paper, the authors conduct a similar study, this time to assess the capability of a transhumeral amputee to control a multigrasp hand from residual musculature on the upper arm. Specifically, experiments are conducted on five healthy subjects, comparing their ability to obtain one of seven hand postures in a virtual prosthesis from EMG measurement of the respective biceps and triceps musculature. The ability to control the virtual hand prosthesis is compared with their ability to do so with their intact hand, as measured by a dataglove. Results indicate an average transition time using the EMG controller on the biceps and triceps of 1.86 seconds, relative to 0.82 seconds with the dataglove.