Using piezoelectric films for classification of upper arm motions: a preliminary report.

Recently, it has been reported that finger motions could be recognized from the forearm signal detected by accelerometers. However, accelerometers are sensitive to vibration or unintended motions, which could cause large noise when classifying different hand motions. This is why our research group wanted to explore the usability of other kinds of sensors for upper arm motions classification.

Psycho-physiological assessment of a prosthetic hand sensory feedback system based on an auditory display: a preliminary study.

Background: Prosthetic hand users have to rely extensively on visual feedback, which seems to lead to a high conscious burden for the users, in order to manipulate their prosthetic devices. Indirect methods (electro-cutaneous, vibrotactile, auditory cues) have been used to convey information from the artificial limb to the amputee, but the usability and advantages of these feedback methods were explored mainly by looking at the performance results, not taking into account measurements of the user's mental effort, attention, and emotions. The main objective of this study was to explore the feasibility of using psycho-physiological measurements to assess cognitive effort when manipulating a robot hand with and without the usage of a sensory substitution system based on auditory feedback, and how these psycho-physiological recordings relate to temporal and grasping performance in a static setting.

Preliminary results of online classification of upper limb motions from around-shoulder muscle activities.

Recently, detecting upper-limb motion intention for prosthetic control purpose attracted growing research attention. In most of the studies, recordings of forearm muscle activities were used as the signal sources, from which the intention of wrist and hand motions were detected using pattern recognition technology. However, most daily-life upper limb activities need coordination of the shoulder-arm-hand complex.

A study on the forearm muscular reflexes during grasping for prosthetic applications.

Recently, there has been an increasing interest in upper-limb prosthetic hand control, but most of these studies focus on the detection of exact motion intentions. Therefore, the responses to unexpected disturbance are not taken into consideration. On the other hand, unimpaired people respond to external disturbances by reflexive responses, hence, it is important to explore how this kind of reactive responses could be applied into prosthetic hand applications, and whether it will improve the human-machine interaction in a dynamical way.