EMG Controlled Prosthesis

This prosthetic arm is the result of a student project. [Amnon Demri] and his classmates built it with below-the-elbow amputees in mind. It uses electromyography to actuate the fingers and wrist. Four stick-on sensors are placed around the elbow to sense electrical activity there. These signals are interpreted by a PIC 16f877a microcontroller which then controls the servo motors to operate the prosthetic limb. This sounds like a very economical solution and as you can see in the videos after the break, it works fairly well.

7 thoughts on “EMG Controlled Prosthesis

  1. @mrgoogfan – I don’t think you have to put the other arm out of commission to use this, this would be used when one arm is gone.

    Oh and to quote “Somthing, Somthing, Somthing Dark Side” “Practice with a hot dog first or you’ll rip your dick off.”

  2. mrgoogfan Hi
    No you do not .
    You can use any peripheral muscle on your body .
    And if the amputation is below-the-elbow , you can use the remaining muscle in the stump .
    So it is not so counterproductive.

    We worked with this big muscles just for the demo.

    the one with the glasses in the film working with the system for just 3 minets!

    Amnon

  3. AddiBoi

    The electrodes are Silver/silver chloride

    They can be purchase at stores that working with health electrodes like : http://www.electrodestore.com/

    We found a store in Israel named : http://www.levant.co.il/

    You also need an amplifying and filtering , we used this one circuit :
    http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4007/4580841604_0fb0d2f065_b.jpg

    and some add-ons for allowing us connecting an AC signal to the PIC ADC :

    http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4044/4580847284_32c9316742_o.png

    Amnon

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