Grant: Idea to Innovation

Losing a limb affects millions worldwide, causing reduced quality of life, and work productivity, among various other difficulties. Although prostheses can help amputees regain some quality of life, conventional prosthetic hands are not connected to the human neural system; therefore, those devices lack precise and natural control, leading many amputees to abandon their prostheses. Current single-surface electromyographic (sEMG) model solutions require amputees to exert distinct muscle signal patterns to perform different and limited gestures. This is a strain on the users since the gestures have to be pronounced and sustained, and as a result, not used to their full capacity. In addition to strain, a percentage of amputees who adopt a prosthesis have either a primary rejection or a discontinuation, a large proportion of which is due to a mismatch between the perceived need, the prosthesis availability, and because of the function and control of the prosthetic.Our technology is a control box that aims to solve the problem of natural and precise prosthetic hand control. Most prosthetic hands have a simple control mechanism, which uses myoelectric signals from the remaining muscle. There is no sophisticated mechanism that also incorporates the environment feedback for control. Our system will automatically determine the grasp type to use based on the object being approached, the timing of the grasp, and sEMG intention. This solution will be implemented into a control box, integrating hardware and software that can be attached to the prosthetic socket. The control box can be connected to the cloud and has an Application Programming Interface (API) connecting to different prosthetic hand brands. The control box will enable amputees to use their prosthetic hands more naturally by embedding information from cameras and other sensors via artificial intelligence. It will be compatible with a variety of commercially available myoelectric prosthesis in the market, so current users would not have to replace their whole unit, and newer users can choose the prosthetic that best matches their needs. The proposed interface will significantly reduce the mental and physical strain on amputees, leading to increased acceptance and prolonged use of prosthetic hands. By restoring the ability to perform daily tasks with ease, our system will enhance occupational productivity and overall life satisfaction for users.