EMG-Adaptive Prosthetic Hand with Enhanced Tactile Feedback

Description: "EMG-Adaptive Prosthetic Hand with Enhanced Tactile Feedback" is a breakthrough prosthetic technology designed to improve the lives of individuals with limb loss. This device leverages the user's own EMG signals for natural and intuitive control, adapting to individual differences through advanced learning algorithms. It addresses the challenge of individual EMG variability and the lack of tactile feedback by incorporating force-sensitive tactile reproduction. This innovation allows for dynamic adjustment of control parameters, rapid adaptation, and enhanced proprioception, making the prosthetic hand both controllable and perceptible. The project has achieved significant advancements in EMG motion recognition, motion control, and tactile perception, securing comprehensive intellectual property protection. The project has been implemented for small-scale production and sales at the Danyang Prosthetics Factory, with over 500 individuals now using the myoelectric prosthetic hands developed. And, the project has received the Gold Award from the Moscow "Archimedes" International Invention Exhibition and the "Technology Innovation Award" from the Jiangsu Province Artificial Intelligence Society in China.

EMG prosthetic hands use the electrical signals from the human skin surface as a control signal, offering natural movement and familiar operation, and attracting widespread interest. However, EMG signals exhibit strong individual differences, and these signals can vary when EMG sensors are placed in different positions. Due to these factors, control parameters must be customized for each individual when they begin using a prosthetic hand. Additionally, adapting to prosthetic hands often requires a long period, and the lack of tactile sensing can leave the control effect unsatisfactory. This exhibit introduces a method for adaptive learning of EMG signals, which dynamically adjusts control parameters based on the wearer's EMG signals, enabling people with disabilities to use the prosthetic hand flexibly and freely in a short period of time. To enhance the sense of proprioception, the exhibit also utilizes tactile feedback technology, allowing both the controller and wearer to perceive the grasping state of the prosthetic hand in real time, thereby improving control and making the hand controllable and perceptible. Our projects have achieved breakthroughs in EMG motion recognition, prosthetic hand motion control, and tactile perception, among other areas, and have obtained comprehensive intellectual property protection. This project has received the Gold Award from the Moscow "Archimedes" International Invention Exhibition and the "Technology Innovation Award" from the Jiangsu Province Artificial Intelligence Society in China. The project has been implemented for small-scale production and sales at the Danyang Prosthetics Factory, with over 500 individuals now using the myoelectric prosthetic hands developed.

Organisation: Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics; Nanjing Vocational University of Industry Technology

Innovator(s): Changcheng Wu; Qingqing Cao; Jianli Ren; Zeran Yue; Ting Fang

Category: Electronics, Robotics, IoT

Country: China