Bio-mimetic impedance control of an EMG-controlled prosthetic hand

This paper proposes a new control method of an externally powered prosthetic hand based on a skeletal muscle model. This method consists of two steps: in the first step, a joint of a prosthetic hand to be driven is selected based on the EMG pattern discrimination using a neural network. Then, muscular contraction levels of flexors and extensors are estimated using other neural networks and used for an impedance control of the prosthetic hand in the second step. In the experiments, natural feeling of the prosthetic control similar to that of a human arm is realized using the neural networks and the impedance control