A combination of engineering advances shows promise for myoelectric prosthetic hands that are controlled by a user’s remaining muscle activity. Fine finger movements are decoded from surface electromyograms with machine learning algorithms and this is combined with a robotic controller that is active only during object grasping to assist in maximizing contact. This shared control scheme allows user-controlled movements when high dexterity is desired, but also assisted grasping when robustness is required.
- Katie Z. Zhuang
- Nicolas Sommer
- Silvestro Micera