Myoelectric
prosthetic arm
Aimee Schultz and Andrea Ho built a two degre of freedom EMG-controlled model of a prosthetic arm.
The arm has an actuated elbow, and an actuated gripper.
Positioning the EMG electrodes to get a good signal was troublesome. Here you see EMG electrodes on Aimee for open/close gripper, and on Andrea for raise/lower elbow.
Aimee and Andrea built
EMG amplifiers shown here,
which include some filters.
The scope shows the amplified EMG signal when the biceps are contracted.
Here is the simulink model which processes the EMG signals and controls teh elbow and gripper motors
Both motors are mounted at the elbow. A toy "grabber" is used as the lower arm and gripper.
The motors are driven by linear amplifiers inside the plastic "arm".
Aimee's bicep flex toggles the gripper open & closed. Andrea's bicep flex toggles the elbow up & down.