Novel Muscle Monitoring by Radiomyography(RMG) and Application to Hand Gesture Recognition

Conventional electromyography (EMG) measures the continuous neural activity during muscle contraction, but lacks explicit quantification of the actual contraction. Mechanomyography (MMG) and accelerometers only measure body surface motion, while ultrasound, CT-scan and MRI are restricted to in-clinic snapshots. Here we propose a novel radiomyography (RMG) for continuous muscle actuation sensing that can be wearable and touchless, capturing both superficial and deep muscle groups. We verified RMG experimentally by a forearm wearable sensor for detailed hand gesture recognition. We first converted the radio sensing outputs to the time-frequency spectrogram, and then employed the vision transformer (ViT) deep learning network as the classification model, which can recognize 23 gestures with an average accuracy up to 99% on 8 subjects. By transfer learning, high adaptivity to user difference and sensor variation were achieved at an average accuracy up to 97%. We further demonstrated RMG to monitor eye and leg muscles and achieved high accuracy for eye movement and body postures tracking. RMG can be used with synchronous EMG to derive stimulation-actuation waveforms for many future applications in kinesiology, physiotherapy, rehabilitation, and human-machine interface

EMG- BASED HAND GESTURE RECOGNITION USING DEEP LEARNING AND SIGNAL-TO-IMAGE CONVERSION TOOLS

In this paper, deep learning-based hand gesture recognition using surface EMG signals is presented. We use Principal component analysis (PCA) to reduce the data set. Here a threshold-based approach is also proposed to select the principal components (PCs). Then the Continuous wavelet transform (CWT) is carried out to prepare the time-frequency representation of images which is used as the input of the classifier. A very deep convolutional neural network (CNN) is proposed as the gesture classifier. The classifier is trained on 10-fold cross-validation framework and we achieve average recognition accuracy of 99.44%, sensitivity of 97.78% and specificity of 99.68% respectively

Addressing the challenges posed by human machine interfaces based on force sensitive resistors for powered prostheses

Despite the advancements in the mechatronics aspect of prosthetic devices, prostheses control still lacks an interface that satisfies the needs of the majority of users. The research community has put great effort into the advancements of prostheses control techniques to address users’ needs. However, most of these efforts are focused on the development and assessment of technologies in the controlled environments of laboratories. Such findings do not fully transfer to the daily application of prosthetic systems. The objectives of this thesis focus on factors that affect the use of Force Myography (FMG) controlled prostheses in practical scenarios. The first objective of this thesis assessed the use of FMG as an alternative or synergist Human Machine Interface (HMI) to the more traditional HMI, i.e. surface Electromyography (sEMG). The assessment for this study was conducted in conditions that are relatively close to the real use case of prosthetic applications. The HMI was embedded in the custom prosthetic prototype that was developed for the pilot participant of the study using an off-the-shelf prosthetic end effector. Moreover, prostheses control was assessed as the user moved their limb in a dynamic protocol.The results of the aforementioned study motivated the second objective of this thesis: to investigate the possibility of reducing the complexity of high density FMG systems without sacrificing classification accuracies. This was achieved through a design method that uses a high density FMG apparatus and feature selection to determine the number and location of sensors that can be eliminated without significantly sacrificing the system’s performance. The third objective of this thesis investigated two of the factors that contribute to increased errors in force sensitive resistor (FSR) signals used in FMG controlled prostheses: bending of force sensors and variations in the volume of the residual limb. Two studies were conducted that proposed solutions to mitigate the negative impact of these factors. The incorporation of these solutions into prosthetic devices is discussed in these studies.It was demonstrated that FMG is a promising HMI for prostheses control. The facilitation of pattern recognition with FMG showed potential for intuitive prosthetic control. Moreover, a method for the design of a system that can determine the required number of sensors and their locations on each individual to achieve a simpler system with comparable performance to high density FMG systems was proposed and tested. The effects of the two factors considered in the third objective were determined. It was also demonstrated that the proposed solutions in the studies conducted for this objective can be used to increase the accuracy of signals that are commonly used in FMG controlled prostheses

Biomechatronics: Harmonizing Mechatronic Systems with Human Beings

This eBook provides a comprehensive treatise on modern biomechatronic systems centred around human applications. A particular emphasis is given to exoskeleton designs for assistance and training with advanced interfaces in human-machine interaction. Some of these designs are validated with experimental results which the reader will find very informative as building-blocks for designing such systems. This eBook will be ideally suited to those researching in biomechatronic area with bio-feedback applications or those who are involved in high-end research on manmachine interfaces. This may also serve as a textbook for biomechatronic design at post-graduate level

Grasping force prediction based on sEMG signals

In order to realize the force control, when the prosthetic hand grasps the object, the forearm electromyography signal is collected by the multi-channel surface electromyography (sEMG) acquisition system. The grasping force information of the human hand is recorded by the six-dimensional force sensor. The root mean square (RMS) of the electromyography signal steady state is selected, which is an effective feature. The gene expression programming algorithm (GEP) and BP neural network are used to construct the prediction model and predict the grasping force. The force prediction accuracy of GEP algorithm and BP neural network algorithm are discussed under different grasping power levels and different grasping modes. The performance of the two algorithm models are evaluated by two measures of root mean square error (RMSE) and correlation coefficient (CC). The results show that the RMS eigenvalue extracted from the sEMG signal can better characterize the grasping force. The prediction model with GEP algorithm has smaller relative error and higher prediction effect

CNN Confidence Estimation for Rejection-Based Hand Gesture Classification in Myoelectric Control

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have been widely utilized to identify hand gestures from surface electromyography (sEMG) signals. However, due to the nonstationary characteristics of sEMG, the classification accuracy usually degrades significantly in the daily living environment involving complex hand movements. To further improve the reliability of a classifier, unconfident classifications are expected to be identified and rejected. In this study, we propose a novel approach to estimate the probability of correctness for each classification. Specifically, a confidence estimation model is established to generate confidence scores (ConfScore) based on posterior probabilities of CNN, and an objective function is designed to train the parameters of this model. In addition, a comprehensive metric that combines the true acceptance rate (TAR) and the true rejection rate (TRR) is proposed to evaluate the rejection performance of ConfScore, so that the tradeoff between system security and control lag could be fully considered. The effectiveness of ConfScore is verified using data from public databases and our online platform. The experimental results illustrate that ConfScore can better reflect the correctness of CNN classifications than traditional confidence features, i.e., maximum posterior probability and entropy of the probability vector. Moreover, the rejection performance is observed to be less sensitive to variations in rejection thresholds

Intelligent signal processing for digital healthcare monitoring

Ein gesunder Gang ist ein komplexer Prozess und erfordert ein Gleichgewicht zwischen verschiedenen neurophysiologischen Systemen im Körper und gilt als wesentlicher Indikator für den physischen und kognitiven Gesundheitszustand einer Person. Folglich würden Anwendungen im Bereich der Bioinformatik und des Gesundheitswesens erheblich von den Informationen profitieren, die sich aus einer längeren oder ständigen Überwachung des Gangs, der Gewohnheiten und des Verhaltens von Personen unter ihren natürlichen Lebensbedingungen und bei ihren täglichen Aktivitäten mit Hilfe intelligenter Geräte ergeben. Vergleicht man Trägheitsmess- und stationäre Sensorsysteme, so bieten erstere hervorragende Möglichkeiten für Ganganalyseanwendungen und bieten mehrere Vorteile wie geringe Größe, niedriger Preis, Mobilität und sind leicht in tragbare Systeme zu integrieren. Die zweiten gelten als der Goldstandard, sind aber teuer und für Messungen im Freien ungeeignet. Diese Arbeit konzentriert sich auf die Verbesserung der Zeit und Qualität der Gangrehabilitation nach einer Operation unter Verwendung von Inertialmessgeräten, indem sie eine neuartige Metrik zur objektiven Bewertung des Fortschritts der Gangrehabilitation in realen Umgebungen liefert und die Anzahl der verwendeten Sensoren für praktische, reale Szenarien reduziert. Daher wurden die experimentellen Messungen für eine solche Analyse in einer stark kontrollierten Umgebung durchgeführt, um die Datenqualität zu gewährleisten. In dieser Arbeit wird eine neue Gangmetrik vorgestellt, die den Rehabilitationsfortschritt anhand kinematischer Gangdaten von Aktivitäten in Innen- und Außenbereichen quantifiziert und verfolgt. In dieser Arbeit wird untersucht, wie Signalverarbeitung und maschinelles Lernen formuliert und genutzt werden können, um robuste Methoden zur Bewältigung von Herausforderungen im realen Leben zu entwickeln. Es wird gezeigt, dass der vorgeschlagene Ansatz personalisiert werden kann, um den Fortschritt der Gangrehabilitation zu verfolgen. Ein weiteres Thema dieser Arbeit ist die erfolgreiche Anwendung von Methoden des maschinellen Lernens auf die Ganganalyse aufgrund der großen Datenmenge, die von den tragbaren Sensorsystemen erzeugt wird. In dieser Arbeit wird das neuartige Konzept des ``digitalen Zwillings'' vorgestellt, das die Anzahl der verwendeten Wearable-Sensoren in einem System oder im Falle eines Sensorausfalls reduziert. Die Evaluierung der vorgeschlagenen Metrik mit gesunden Teilnehmern und Patienten unter Verwendung statistischer Signalverarbeitungs- und maschineller Lernmethoden hat gezeigt, dass die Einbeziehung der extrahierten Signalmerkmale in realen Szenarien robust ist, insbesondere für das Szenario mit Rehabilitations-Gehübungen in Innenräumen. Die Methodik wurde auch in einer klinischen Studie evaluiert und lieferte eine gute Leistung bei der Überwachung des Rehabilitationsfortschritts verschiedener Patienten. In dieser Arbeit wird ein Prototyp einer mobilen Anwendung zur objektiven Bewertung des Rehabilitationsfortschritts in realen Umgebungen vorgestellt

Gait Cycle-Inspired Learning Strategy for Continuous Prediction of Knee Joint Trajectory from sEMG

Predicting lower limb motion intent is vital for controlling exoskeleton robots and prosthetic limbs. Surface electromyography (sEMG) attracts increasing attention in recent years as it enables ahead-of-time prediction of motion intentions before actual movement. However, the estimation performance of human joint trajectory remains a challenging problem due to the inter- and intra-subject variations. The former is related to physiological differences (such as height and weight) and preferred walking patterns of individuals, while the latter is mainly caused by irregular and gait-irrelevant muscle activity. This paper proposes a model integrating two gait cycle-inspired learning strategies to mitigate the challenge for predicting human knee joint trajectory. The first strategy is to decouple knee joint angles into motion patterns and amplitudes former exhibit low variability while latter show high variability among individuals. By learning through separate network entities, the model manages to capture both the common and personalized gait features. In the second, muscle principal activation masks are extracted from gait cycles in a prolonged walk. These masks are used to filter out components unrelated to walking from raw sEMG and provide auxiliary guidance to capture more gait-related features. Experimental results indicate that our model could predict knee angles with the average root mean square error (RMSE) of 3.03(0.49) degrees and 50ms ahead of time. To our knowledge this is the best performance in relevant literatures that has been reported, with reduced RMSE by at least 9.5%