Spatio-temporal feature extraction in sensory electroneurographic signals

The recording and analysis of peripheral neural signal can provide insight for various prosthetic and bioelectronics medicine applications. However, there are few studies that investigate how informative features can be extracted from population activity electroneurographic (ENG) signals. In this study, five feature extraction frameworks were implemented on sensory ENG datasets and their classification performance was compared. The datasets were collected in acute rat experiments where multi-channel nerve cuffs recorded from the sciatic nerve in response to proprioceptive stimulation of the hindlimb. A novel feature extraction framework, which incorporates spatio-temporal focus and dynamic time warping, achieved classification accuracies above 90% while keeping a low computational cost. This framework outperformed the remaining frameworks tested in this study and has improved the discrimination accuracy of the sensory signals. Thus, this study has extended the tools available to extract features from sensory population activity ENG signals. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Advanced neurotechnologies: translating innovation for health and well-being’

A survey on bio-signal analysis for human-robot interaction

The use of bio-signals analysis in human-robot interaction is rapidly increasing. There is an urgent demand for it in various applications, including health care, rehabilitation, research, technology, and manufacturing. Despite several state-of-the-art bio-signals analyses in human-robot interaction (HRI) research, it is unclear which one is the best. In this paper, the following topics will be discussed: robotic systems should be given priority in the rehabilitation and aid of amputees and disabled people; second, domains of feature extraction approaches now in use, which are divided into three main sections (time, frequency, and time-frequency). The various domains will be discussed, then a discussion of each domain's benefits and drawbacks, and finally, a recommendation for a new strategy for robotic systems

Regulating Grip Forces through EMG-Controlled Protheses for Transradial Amputees

This study aims to evaluate different combinations of features and algorithms to be used in the control of a prosthetic hand wherein both the configuration of the fingers and the gripping forces can be controlled. This requires identifying machine learning algorithms and feature sets to detect both intended force variation and hand gestures in EMG signals recorded from upper-limb amputees. However, despite the decades of research into pattern recognition techniques, each new problem requires researchers to find a suitable classification algorithm, as there is no such thing as a universal ’best’ solution. Consideration of different techniques and data representation represents a fundamental practice in order to achieve maximally effective results. To this end, we employ a publicly-available database recorded from amputees to evaluate different combinations of features and classifiers. Analysis of data from 9 different individuals shows that both for classic features and for time-dependent power spectrum descriptors (TD-PSD) the proposed logarithmically scaled version of the current window plus previous window achieves the highest classification accuracy. Using linear discriminant analysis (LDA) as a classifier and applying a majority-voting strategy to stabilize the individual window classification, we obtain 88% accuracy with classic features and 89% with TD-PSD features.This paper is supported by European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Grant Agreement no 779967, project RobotUnion

PaWFE ::fast signal feature extraction using parallel time windows

Motivation: Hand amputations can dramatically affect the quality of life of a person. Researchers are developing surface electromyography and machine learning solutions to control dexterous and robotic prosthetic hands, however long computational times can slow down this process. Objective: This paper aims at creating a fast signal feature extraction algorithm that can extract widely used features and allow researchers to easily add new ones. Methods: PaWFE (Parallel Window Feature Extractor) extracts the signal features from several time windows in parallel. The MATLAB code is publicly available and supports several time domain and frequency features. The code was tested and benchmarked using 1,2,4,8,16,32, and 48 threads on a server with four Xeon E7- 4820 and 128 GB RAM using the first 5 datasets of the Ninapro database, that are recorded with different acquisition setups. Results: The parallel time window analysis approach allows to reduce the computational time up to 20 times when using 32 cores, showing a very good scalability. Signal features can be extracted in few seconds from an entire data acquisition and in <100ms from a single time window, easily reducing of up to over 15 times the feature extraction procedure in comparison to traditional approaches. The code allows users to easily add new signal feature extraction scripts, that can be added to the code and on the Ninapro website upon request. Significance: The code allows researchers in machine learning and biosignals data analysis to easily and quickly test modern machine learning approaches on big datasets and it can be used as a resource for real time data analysis too

a comparison of semg temporal and spatial information in the analysis of continuous movements

Abstract Much effort has recently been devoted to the analysis of continuous movements with the aim of promoting EMG signal acceptance in several fields of application. Moreover, several studies have been performed to optimize the temporal and spatial parameters in order to obtain a robust interpretation of EMG signals. Resulting from these perspectives, the investigation of the contribution of EMG temporal and spatial information has become a relevant aspect for signal interpretation. This paper aims to evaluate the effects of the two types of information on continuous motions analysis. In order to achieve this goal, the spatial and temporal information of EMG signals were separated and applied as input for an offline Template Making and Matching algorithm. Movement recognition was performed testing three different methods. In the first case (the Temporal approach) the RMS time series generated during movements was the only information employed. In the second case (the Spatial approach) the mean RMS amplitude measured on each channel was considered. Finally, in the third case (the Spatio-Temporal approach) a combination of the information from both the previous approaches was applied. The experimental protocol included 14 movements, which were different from each other in the muscular activation and the execution timing. Results show that the recognition of continuous movements cannot disregard the temporal information. Moreover, the temporal patterns seem to be relevant also for distinguishing movements which differ only in the muscular areas they activate

Combined influence of forearm orientation and muscular contraction on EMG pattern recognition

AbstractThe performance of intelligent electromyogram (EMG)-driven prostheses, functioning as artificial alternatives to missing limbs, is influenced by several dynamic factors including: electrode position shift, varying muscle contraction level, forearm orientation, and limb position. The impact of these factors on EMG pattern recognition has been previously studied in isolation, with the combined effect of these factors being understudied. However, it is likely that a combination of these factors influences the accuracy. We investigated the combined effect of two dynamic factors, namely, forearm orientation and muscle contraction levels, on the generalizability of the EMG pattern recognition. A number of recent time- and frequency-domain EMG features were utilized to study the EMG classification accuracy. Twelve intact-limbed and one bilateral transradial (below-elbow) amputee subject were recruited. They performed six classes of wrist and hand movements at three muscular contraction levels with three forearm orientations (nine conditions). Results indicate that a classifier trained by features that quantify the angle, rather than amplitude, of the muscle activation patterns perform better than other feature sets across different contraction levels and forearm orientations. In addition, a classifier trained with the EMG signals collected at multiple forearm orientations with medium muscular contractions can generalize well and achieve classification accuracies of up to 91%. Furthermore, inclusion of an accelerometer to monitor wrist movement further improved the EMG classification accuracy. The results indicate that the proposed methodology has the potential to improve robustness of myoelectric pattern recognition